Association for Behavior Analysis International

This meeting will cover important components of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), including information on Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA) credentials, eligibility requirements, approved course sequences, examination administration, and applying for examination. The presentation will also offer information regarding BACB growth and development. This meeting is intended for individuals who want basic information on the BACB or are planning to become certified.

The annual report of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis will be presented, followed by the discussion of editorial policies and issues. We encourage past and present associate editors and board members, authors and prospective authors, and any other interested parties to attend. Questions and suggestions encouraged.

Members of the Standard Celeration Society will congregate to discuss all business related matters regarding the society, including but not limited to 1) membership, 2) finances, and 3) the annual International Precision Teaching Conference.

The annual report of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) will be presented, followed by discussion of editorial policies and issues. We encourage authors and prospective authors to attend. Questions and suggestions will be encouraged.

The Behavior Analysis for Sustainable Societies (BASS) Special Interest Group was formed to advance applications of behavior analysis to environmental issues that contribute to the development of solutions to climate change, pollution, overconsumption of resources, and imbalances in environmental sustainability. Objectives include to a) encourage and support research that promotes the application of behavior analysis to green/environmental issues; b) collaborate with environmental scientists, environmental groups, and other SIGs within ABAI that have an interest in addressing behavior change and sustainability/environmental issues; c) disseminate research and practices that support solutions to environmental issues through the application of behavioral interventions; d) develop curricula, textbooks, and additional educational resources that address sustainability and the application of behavior analysis; e) compile resources for individuals interested in behavior change and environmental issues; and f) develop an information base of current effective practices/initiatives, government policies, and employment for behavior analysts interested in behavior change and environmental issues The business meeting is open to anyone interested in sustainability and environmental issues.

Behavior analysts involved in clinical practice recognize that we owe much to parents of children with autism who have been staunch advocates for higher quality services for their children. The synergy that can arise from parents and professionals working together creates exciting opportunities and possibilities. The Parent-Professional Partnership SIG is one such opportunity. A business meeting will be held to provide a forum for networking, to outline the PPP SIG's goals and objectives, and to discuss ways to improve upon the SIG's joint website with the Autism SIG. All interested parents and professionals are encouraged to attend this meeting chaired by David Celiberti and Pamela Gorski (co-presidents) and visit our website at www.AutismPPPSIG.org.

At this meeting we will review business items associated with NABA; the meeting is open to all sustaining, full, affiliate, and student members.

This will be the annual business meeting of the Positive Behavior Support Special Interest Group.

This meeting is open to anyone interested in the work of the ABAI Education Board. The ABAI Executive Council has charged the Education Board with two primary tasks. The first of these is to encourage both undergraduate and graduate programs in behavior analysis to pursue ABAI accreditation, and to provide assistance to these programs as needed to achieve this goal. The second charge to the Education Board has been to prepare an application for recognition of the ABAI accreditation system by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. The meeting will address these issues as well as other matters of interest or concern to the membership.

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The extraordinary success of behavior analytic interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has fueled the rapid growth of behavior analysis as a profession. One reason for this success is that for many years behavior analysts were virtually alone in conducting programmatic ASD intervention research. However, that era has ended. Many investigators from other disciplines are now carrying out large-scale intervention studies and beginning to report successes of their own. The increasing number and range of studies has the potential to improve services for individuals with ASD, and it challenges behavior analysts to intensify their research efforts.

Professionals and graduate students

Here are some of the topics we may touch on, though we will have time for only a few: (1) The relation between experimental and applied research in behavior analysis. (2) Why bridging research gets it wrong. (3) Why basic research gets it wrong. (4) Preschool fatalism. (5) Pre-PhD fatalism: Why you will agree with practically none of this presentation. (6) The little boy with a new hammer who tries to fix everything by hitting it with his wonderful hammer. (7) Why the worst thing Skinner ever did was invent schedules of reinforcement. (8) An erroneous analysis of schedules of reinforcement and cigarette smoking. (9) Why delayed-discounting is irrelevant to almost anything of importance. (10) Why grandma's wisdom is wrong. (11) The myth of poor self-control. (12) The truth about poor self-control. (13) Rule-governed vs. contingency-controlled behavior. (14) Why operationalization provides only a false sense of intellectual security. (15) The shiftless paradigm. (16) Why most of the panel members disagree with most of this. (17) Why none of this represents the official position of ABAI.

Panelists will briefly discuss their career path and personal research interests. Panelists will also give recommendations and advice to those looking to publish in a peer reviewed journal.

Technology offers the potential to play a critical role in improving behavioral health interventions in a manner that enables rapid diffusion of science-based interventions and which may be cost-effective. Evidence-based psychosocial treatment, provided via an automated, technology-based platform (e.g., web, mobile devices), could substantially advance treatment efforts by improving quality and availability of care, leveraging the efforts of clinical staff, and projecting treatment to rural and other underserved areas. Additionally, the temporal flexibility of technology-based interventions may allow for "on-demand," ubiquitous access to therapeutic support, thereby creating unprecedented models of intervention delivery and reducing barriers to accessing care. In this presentation, Dr. Marsch will provide an overview of her line of research focused on the development and evaluation of technology-based, psychosocial prevention and treatment interventions targeting substance use and related issues (including HIV prevention and mental health issues). This work has been conducted in a variety of settings, including physician offices, substance abuse treatment programs, criminal justice settings, educational settings and via the Internet. Dr. Marsch will discuss strategies for developing and evaluating technology-based behavior change interventions in a manner that ensures the inclusion of science-based content and evidence-based informational technologies. She will also discuss potential research opportunities in this area.

Graduate students, laboratory and applied scientists

While the certification requirements for becoming a behavior analyst are not open to interpretation, how the content is provided during supervision is open to interpretation. As the widespread use of technology expands the delivery of that content to nontraditional settings, the form that the required supervision takes has been altered as well. There are multiple university sites that are administering courses from a distance. The availability of distance-delivered coursework opens the opportunities for enrollment to individuals who before would have been too remote. While this technology is beneficial for those living in remote areas, the remoteness itself adds to the need for creative approaches to supervision. Challenges range from the availability of qualified supervisors to the lack of a supervision structure or clear outcomes. This symposium will present data based information from the university perspective, the student perspective, the administrative perspective, and the supervision perspective regarding the implementation of a standardized supervision program based on the content areas presented by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Coursework and supervision was provided using primarily distance-technology, including online information and teleconferencing technology.

Alaskas limited number of Board Certified Behavior Analysts severely restricted the ability of Alaska to implement best practice services and inhibited training opportunities for students. Alaskas Center for Human Development (CHD) was tasked with capacity building in Autism interventions and gathered a group of stakeholders to determine how capacity would be built and what practices would best serve the state. The stakeholder group overwhelmingly supported increased training in approaches rooted in Applied Behavior Analysis. Alaska only had one BCBA who was soon to retire and the university system provided no options for training in this science. Program directors began looking for resources outside Alaska. In addition, 6 BCBA candidates who were completing their BCBAs individually were surveyed to determine what worked and what did not work regarding distance supervision. A university school program and supervisors were selected and asked to coordinate with the State to address concerns regarding the quality and comprehensive nature of distance supervision. These issues included coordination of the university program and the supervision to reduce the response effort of the students, manualizing the distance supervision to increase quality of the experience, and using distance technology to increase face-to face interaction between supervisors and supervisees.

Professionals working with young children, especially those experiencing Autism, who follow best practice guideline will find that practices informed by the science of Applied Behavior Analysis rise to the top. However, for professionals in Alaska these approaches, and the certification necessary to competently practice, were not available. Distance supervision and University course work were the only options that were feasible as relocating to another state was not possible. Distance supervision had two attractive qualities. First, it allowed students to maintain their current livelihood with no need to relocate, which is costly as well as difficult on families and the social networks they have developed. Second, the use of distance technology in a state that must use distance resources to provide services in frontier locations gave students an added skill to improve services. Distance education opportunities including the University coursework and distance supervision have allowed students to increase their skills and better serve families where otherwise this would have been impossible.

There has been considerable attention in the literature on teaching communication skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the resulting data suggests using applied behaviour analysis (ABA) techniques (e.g., alternative augmentative communication (AAC); graduated time-delay procedure) is highly efficacious in teaching communication skills to this population. However, there is very little research published on how these programs work for adults with ASD. As such, the efficacy of these procedures should not be generalized to the adult population. Moreover, children with ASD often undergo communication training through early autism initiatives in Intensive Behaviour Intervention (IBI) settings where highly trained staff (i.e., Instructor Therapists; Senior Therapists) implement the procedures. Implementing this type of programming in a residential setting (i.e., group home) varies extensively from that of an IBI setting. Moreover, adults with ASD do not have the learning trajectory that children do, thus AAC procedures outlined in existing literature may not be the most efficacious way to deliver communication training to adults. This symposium will attempt to address the gap in literature by presenting two case studies and one multiple baseline across participants design on the efficaciousness of ABA techniques in teaching communication skills to older adults with ASD.

One of the core deficits presented by individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is that of communication and/or speech deficit whereby they are often unable to initiate conversation or make spontaneous requests for desired items. As such, individuals with ASD often require intensive teaching procedures in order to develop functional communication skills. Although there is research to support that that the mand should be the initial focus in language training and development there is limited literature to date which includes participants over 18 years of age. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of graduated time-delay prompting procedures in teaching an older adult with ASD to request (mand). The participant had never undergone formal communication training prior to intervention implementation. Baseline was collected before mediator training and the introduction of teaching procedures. Preliminary results indicate rapid and steady progress in the acquisition of verbal mands in the participants natural environment. Results from existing research cannot be generalized to include the adult population for a variety of reasons therefore, this study will attempt to address the current gap in literature.

One of the cornerstone deficits in individuals with autism is their inability to effectively communicate. As a result, augmentative alternative communication (AAC) systems have been researched in an effort to identify efficacious programming. However, the vast majority of this literature includes participants under the age of 18. As such, there exists a large gap in the literature whereby the most efficacious procedure for teaching adults with autism communication skills remains largely unknown as existing results cannot be generalized to the adult population. The current study attempts to address the aforementioned gap in research whereby the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) was used to teach a 37 year old male, with no previous formal communication training to communicate. Teaching trials took place in a residential setting where frontline staff were responsible for program implementation. A baseline was conducted prior to teaching each target item. After each baseline PECS (Bondy & Frost, 1994) was systematically implemented. Preliminary results indicate slow steady progress across a number of target items over the first two phases of PECS.

Teaching persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to communicate is a primary focus among professionals who provide services for this population. Moreover, extensive literature exists to support the efficaciousness of several alternative augmentative communication (AAC) methods, namely the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). However, a large majority of the PECS literature to date includes participants 18 years and younger. As a result, the outcomes of these studies cannot be generalized to include the adult population in part because adults present with vastly different learning trajectories and are confronted with different situational and environmental variables (e.g., non-IBI settings) Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a modified PECS program in teaching three older adults with ASD communication skills. Each participant had never undergone formal communication training prior to intervention implementation. Baseline data were collected prior to the introduction of each new target item and date of implementation was staggered across participants. Preliminary results indicate slow steady progress across the initial phases of PECS.

Although staff training is cited as a critical component to the success of ABA interventions for young children with autism, relatively little research has been conducted to evaluate models for training in-home and classroom 1:1 staff to implement ABA teaching techniques with high fidelity. Moreover, limited published resources exist to train Supervisory-level clinical staff to analyze problems related to skill acquisition and determine appropriate and efficient solutions. This symposium will present data evaluating a comprehensive Behavioral Skills Training model to facilitate the acquisition and maintenance of core ABA teaching strategies by staff providing 1:1 ABA intervention in the home setting. The efficacy of the training model to school-based instructional aides and classroom teachers also will be presented. Finally, data will be summarized on the use of a checklist to guide Supervisors of ABA programs in effective troubleshooting of skill acquisition programs. Implications of the training resources to clinical service providers will be discussed.

For children with autism and developmental delays, the model of intensive early intervention treatment and education services that are based on the principles of applied behavior analysis has become the best practice standard. While higher-level behavior analysts are trained and supervised according to the guidelines of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), a training gap often exists between these treatment providers and the instructors that work directly with young children during home-basedapplied bheavior analysis (ABA)intervention. Presuming that a qualified behavior analyst oversees the program, the efficacy of the intervention is still dependent on the home instructor's competence with respect to the execution of these techniques in the absence of continuous, on-site supervision. This presentation will review an intensive instructor training protocol to facilitate the acquisition of the following core ABA intervention skills: errorless teaching, discrete-trial teaching, and natural environment teaching strategies to promote spontaneous manding. Performance-based data were collected on the instructor's skill level before and after the intensive training, and results showed that implementation accuracy increased markedly following exposure to the training protocol.

Research has shown that behavioral skills training packages have been successful in teaching classroom staff to implement research-based applied behavior analysis (ABA) teaching techniques for students with autism spectrum disorders. In the current evaluation, a comprehensive behavioral skills training model was developed to train teachers and instructional assistants within a southern California school district to use errorless teaching, discrete trial teaching, and mand training. Data were collected on the efficacy of the training model in teaching school district staff; more specifically, data indicated that classroom staff demonstrated a high level of implementation fidelity across all three teaching techniques following introduction of the training package, as well as at a 90-day follow-up. The benefits of collaboration between the Non Public Agency (NPA) trainers and school district personnel, along with the resolution of stressors will be discussed.

While training protocols incorporating the critical components of behavioral skills training have been shown to be effective with intervention staff providing direct teaching to young children with autism, few guidelines exist that suggest a specific training regimen for mid-level behavior analysts responsible for the day-to-day development of the program of instruction for a caseload of children. One key area that supervisor-level staff must continually address is what to do when children are not acquiring specified objectives. Providing those staff with a comprehensive, but user-friendly resource or checklist for analyzing and resolving problems related to skill acquisition could be a way to train program supervisors to effectively modify teaching interactions when a child is not acquiring a skill or a teaching step. A description of the checklist and a review of pilot data indicating how such a resource could be used will be reviewed.

Overweight and obesity are problems of considerable social significance. Both overweight and obesity are primarily the result of an energy imbalance, with overweight and obese individuals consuming more calories than they expend. One of the primary behavioral factors related to this imbalance is physical activity. Increasing energy expenditure through increased physical activity can serve to remediate the energy imbalance, so long as calorie consumption does not increase. Moreover, increased physical activity can produce health benefits even in the absence of weight loss. Despite the obvious relevance of behavior analysis to these issues, relatively little behavior-analytic research has focused on physical activity in the context of overweight and obesity. This symposium will feature several studies focused on understanding and increasing physical activity levels in children and adults from a behavior analytic perspective. Two of the papers report the results of efforts to increase physical activity, one with children and one with adults. Two papers will report the results of assessments to determine conditions that promote more or less physical activity in children.

Physical activity is important for children as many children are considered overweight or obese. In the current study, a multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess the effectiveness of goal setting, reinforcement contingencies, and pedometers that provide feedback to increase step count by 5 participants. During baseline each participant wore a sealed pedometer to assess the average steps the participants took per day. In intervention 1, each participant set a reasonable goal of steps to achieve per day in order to receive a specific reinforcer chosen by the parent and participant. Intervention 2 added daily phone calls from the researcher to check participant progress. Data collection for 4 of the 5 participants showed a mean increase in steps taken per day during both interventions. All 3 participants that participated in intervention 2 further increased their mean count. Two participants participated in the follow-up phase of the study; both participants maintained their goals from intervention 2 and completed their goal step count on 100% of days.

The prevalence of overweight and obese children is an increasing concern in the United States and abroad. Studies have shown that higher activity levels correspond with lower body mass index and overall better health. Given the current percentage of children enrolled in both public and private schools, it may be the case that a significant portion of children's daily activity can be fulfilled in school. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of step counts as reliable indicators of differential activity levels displayed by children during recess. Fifteen elementary school-aged children wore Fitbit accelerometers during their regular recess times. Both structured and unstructured activities were evaluated. Step counts were recorded from Fitbits in 1-min intervals, and specific recess activities were observed and recorded. The results indicated that step count data produced by the Fitbit were successful at identifying differential patterns of activity levels. Overall, higher step counts were observed during jogging and soccer, and lower step counts were observed during tag and free play. The data also indicated a gender difference, with boys reaching higher activity levels than girls during free play. Implications for interventions utilizing step counts for feedback and goal-setting will be discussed.

Behavioral contracting has been shown to be effective in improving a variety of behaviors, including weight management and exercise (Aragona, Cassady, & Drabman, 1975; Mann, 1972; Neale, Singleton, Dupuis, & Hess, 1990). Although research has examined the efficacy of various behavioral contract components (e.g., response cost), no studies have directly compared the efficacy of the type of deposit (e.g., monetary versus personal goods). In the current study, 2 female employees of a pediatric hospital, ages 32 and 24, wore a multidirectional accelerometer, which measured energy expenditure, during the workday. Following baseline and feedback-only conditions, participants were exposed to 2 behavioral contracting conditions, a monetary deposit and a personal goods deposit. Results showed that the most effective deposit contract at increasing energy expenditure differed across 2 participants. Additionally, for both participants only 1 of the deposit types resulted in meeting the goal and earning back the deposit entirely. These results suggest that to maximize the effectiveness of behavioral contracting, the most effective contract type needs to be identified and utilized prior to entering into a contract.

Direct observation of children being physically active often is viewed as the "gold standard" measure of assessing physical activity. Although direct observation can provide information regarding contextual variables (i.e., context and composition) related to moderate and vigorous physical activity, environmental variables often are not manipulated and thus causal relationships cannot be determined. We developed an experimental analysis methodology to assess the effect of outdoor activity context and group composition on level of physical activity in preschool children. The purpose of the current study was to compare the results from descriptive analyses of physical activity to those of experimental analyses. Descriptive analyses were conducted during 30-min sessions on an outdoor playground at a local daycare. Experimental analysis sessions were conducted on an outdoor playground within a multielement experimental design, with each condition lasting 5 min. The Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children (McIver et al., 2009) was used to define the conditions and various levels of physical activity within both the descriptive and functional analyses. Initial data suggest that the degree of agreement between the descriptive analyses and experimental analyses varies by participant.

Behavior analysts are often faced with challenging situations that require them to step out of their comfort zone to work in school and community settings where they may have to deal with individuals (such as staff, teachers, and parents) who do not buy into a behavioral approach. Each of the presentations in this symposium address a setting (school, residential facility, home) where part of the challenge is to change the behavior of the individuals who provide treatment and/or instruction. This challenge is further compounded by the fact that the children involved have behavioral and emotional problems that may not traditionally be dealt with by behavior analysts (such as anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues) or may be particularly challenging (such as ADD, explosive behavior disorder, and aggression). These challenges are met with technology, multi-faceted treatments, and/or novel approaches that change the behavior of the children involved as well as the significant others who play a central role in these childrens lives.

This study outlines a behavior program designed to reduce aggressive and tantrum behavior in a 16-year-old girl with multiple diagnoses including Autism, IED and ADD. Functional assessment showed that the behaviour was maintained by escape and attention. A multi-element behavior support plan was implemented comprised of DRO, Functional Communication Training and a Token Economy system was successfully implemented. This resulted in a significant reduction in the target behavior to low levels as measured by average weekly duration. Discussion centers on the difficulties implementing behavior plans both with clients who have multiple diagnoses and in unsupportive settings, which were both features in this study. Where multiple diagnoses are present, particularly those of a more medical nature, the author has found that function-based behavior plans can be more difficult to implement, as cognitive based explanations of behavior seem to be more acceptable to parents and staff. Difficulties also arise when staff are not from a behavioral background and take a more intuitive approach to dealing with challenging behavior rather than maintaining a prescribed program.

Students in impoverished rural communities are at risk for gang membership, juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, continuing the cycle of poverty, relationship violence, academic failure and dropping out of school. Greene County has a high rate of poverty with 21.7% of residents living below poverty level in 2008 (compared with 14.6% in NC). The median household income in Greene Co. was $38,530 in 2008 (compared to $46,574 for NC). About 73% of the students in Greene County Schools receive free or reduced-price lunch, indicating the degree of economic need within the district. Doctoral students in pediatric school psychology from East Carolina University are providing school-based behavioral services in Greene County middle school and high school under the supervision of a licensed psychologist and BCBA. These services to faculty, students and their families include behavioral consultation, behavioral counseling, tutoring, and family educational events. These services have impacted grades, discipline referrals, student classroom behavior, teacher behavior, and parent behavior. The presenter will discuss ways of overcoming challenges in providing school-based behavioral services and making an impact in a rural community.

Contingency management is effective for treating a variety of problem behaviors. Incorporating this well-known strategy with technology to increase the number of individuals who can be reached would further its therapeutic impact. Within this session, papers are focused on remotely monitoring behavior using technology-based contingency management interventions for increasing appropriate behavior in teens (e.g., blood-sugar testing) and adults (e.g., purchasing more fresh produce) or decreasing maladaptive behavior in adults (e.g., smoking). In the first presentation, the effects of online peer support on smoking cessation treatment efficacy will be discussed. In the second presentation, the impact of delivering monetary vouchers on adherence with blood sugar testing recommendations will be discussed. In the third presentation, the effects of an intervention for promoting increased consumption of fruits and vegetables by incentivizing their purchase will be discussed. Preliminary data show promising trends that promote contingency management via the Internet as a viable, effective treatment for various problem behaviors.

Social support (e.g., praise) may promote abstinence from cigarette smoking. To combine social support with the monetary consequences of contingency management (CM), we integrated group contingencies of reinforcement and an online discussion forum into an Internet-based intervention to promote smoking cessation. Thirty-six participants were divided into 12 small teams (n = 3 per team). These teams were divided into 2 groups. Participants assigned to the forum group had access to a moderated, online peer support forum through which they could communicate with their teammates. Participants assigned to the no forum group did not have access to this forum. Each participant submitted video recordings of breath carbon monoxide (CO) measurement twice daily via the Internet. Teams were exposed to 3, 5-day conditions in random order. In the independent contingency condition, participants earned vouchers exchangeable for goods contingent on abstinence (CO = 4 ppm; i.e., negative samples). In the interdependent contingency condition, participants earned vouchers only when every member of the team submitted negative samples. In the no contingency condition, no monetary contingency was arranged. Thus far, 12 participants have completed the study. Preliminary results suggest that access to the online peer support forum enhances treatment efficacy.

Diabetes can lead to a number of life-threatening health complications if unmanaged. A critical component of diabetes management, for teens diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, involves blood sugar testing at least four times per day. The current ongoing clinical trial is designed to evaluate the impact of delivering monetary vouchers contingent (n=4) or non-contingent (n=2) on adherence with blood sugar testing recommendations. Participants submit videos showing them test their blood sugar over a secure, encrypted study website. Although the results are very preliminary due to the early stages of data collection, so far there appears to be a trend towards greater adherence in the treatment, contingent, group relative to the control, noncontingent, group. Contingent participants adhered with the minimum of 4 recommended blood glucose tests per day during a mean of 35% (range 0-70%) of the 20 day treatment, compared to only 12.5% (range 0-25%) in the noncontingent group. In general, participants and their parents, regardless of group assignment, rated the program favorably on a number of dimensions, and parents reported that their children became more independent with their diabetes management as a result of the intervention. The results suggest that Internet-based contingency management interventions are feasible and acceptable, and there is some preliminary evidence that it is also effective, for increasing adherence to blood sugar testing in teens diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Suboptimal diet is associated with 4 of the 10 leading causes of death, and improving dietary choices could reduce the frequency of these afflictions. Eating the minimum recommended servings of produce a day has been found to lower the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Despite the increased availability of nutritional information and increased understanding among the public regarding ways to prevent these diseases, only 10% of Americans were classified as having a healthy diet in 2000. We propose to examine the effectiveness and feasibility of an intervention for promoting increased consumption of fruits and vegetables by incentivizing their purchase where the overwhelming majority of food is sold: grocery stores. The primary aim of this project is to generate preliminary evidence of the efficacy of two financial incentive structures in promoting the allocation of a greater percentage of ones grocery budget to the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables. Thus far, we have recruited five participants (40% Caucasian). We expect recruitment and the study to be completed by the end of February 2012. Thus far this population spends 6.76% of their food money on produce and 42% of their grocery budget comes from food assistance programs like SNAP.

This symposium covers extensions of using a multiple schedule to increase the practicality of function-based treatments. Topics include (a) methods for leaning the duration of the extinction component and whether systematic and gradual progressions are necessary, (b) the portability of schedule-correlated stimuli and the extent to which treatment gains generalize across individuals and settings, and (c) the effects of incorporating the stimulus correlated with the extinction component on the level of communication responses when used as the continuous signal during delays to reinforcement. Together, the presentations demonstrate how multiple schedules serve as an efficient and efficacious method to sustain acquired functional communication responses and low levels of problem behavior across different contexts and how the schedule-correlated stimuli can be used to enhance the efficacy of another schedule thinning method. In addition, we are fortunate to have Dr. Wayne Fisher serve as the discussant.

Previous studies indicate that teaching a functional communicative response in a multiple schedule arrangement provides an effective method for thinning reinforcement when attempting to produce a shift in responding in individuals from problem behavior to socially appropriate responses for the same reinforcer(s) (Fisher, Kuhn & Thompson, 1998; Hanley, Iwata, & Thompson, 2001; Tiger & Hanley, 2004, 2005). Although previous research has demonstrated beneficial effects of multiple-schedules for reaching terminal schedule criteria (Hanley et al., 2001), it is unclear whether the thinning procedures established to reach the schedule values are necessary. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the: (a) effects of contingency-correlated stimuli during FCT, (b) necessity of systematic and gradual fading steps during schedule thinning under multiple schedule components and, (c) extent to which contingency-correlated stimuli facilitated generalization across therapists and environments. Participants were 4 individuals referred for severe problem behavior and whose basic skills set included ability to communicate vocally and follow multiple-step instructions. Each participant was exposed to mixed vs. multiple schedule arrangements with and without fading of lean and rich schedules of reinforcement. Results suggest schedule correlated stimuli are necessary and sufficient for FCT schedule thinning and they promote rapid generalization.

Studies have indicated that multiple schedules can produce discriminated manding while maintaining low rates of problem behavior shown to be maintained by the same reinforcer as those mands (Fisher, Kuhn, & Thompson, 1998; Hanley, Iwata, & Thompson, 2001; Tiger & Hanley, 2004, 2005). However, few studies have examined systematic methods of determining the duration of the components of the multiple schedule (i.e., periods SD and SDELTA) and subsequent schedule thinning. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine whether a multiple schedule in which the duration of the SD and SDELTA components were based upon the rate of mands during prior functional communication training (FCT) would produce discriminated manding while maintaining low rates of problem behavior. Participants were 4 individuals with developmental disabilities who engaged in severe behavior. The initial SDELTA interval was double that of the average interresponse interval for mands during FCT. This study also investigated whether discriminated manding would maintain when the schedule of reinforcement was the thinned to a terminal goal of a 10 min SDELTA. Overall, discriminated manding was observed with all 4 participants and manding maintained when the schedule of reinforcement was systematically thinned.

We used multiple schedule training to reduce high rates of manding and problem behavior emitted by individuals with developmental disabilities and autism during reinforcement schedule thinning procedures. Once mands were under discriminative control, a test for transfer of stimulus control to a signaled delay to reinforcement was implemented. During the multiple schedule training, rates of problem behavior were reduced to zero and manding was reduced to near zero during extinction intervals while maintaining steady rates of mands during reinforcement intervals. Following multiple schedule training, results showed transfer of stimulus control to signaled delays when mands during the delay interval decreased to near zero levels. Transfer of control from multiple schedules to signaled delay to reinforcement procedures may be a critical component of the treatment of excessive manding in natural environments when a variety of preferred items are available on varying schedules.

Severe rumination is a rare but serious problem for some individuals with developmental disabilities. Previous research, though limited, has shown success with various behavior analytic approaches including positive punishment and antecedent manipulations. This study measured the effects of satiation during mealtime and non-contingent food delivery on the rate of automatically maintained rumination exhibited by an eight-year-old boy with autism and moderate mental retardation. The study was conducted during school hours in a private special needs day school. Results indicated that a fixed time interval delivery of food in combination with additional servings at mealtime reduced the rate of rumination. Further treatment also included a systematic fade of these interventions. Rumination rates remained low following the completion of the fade and in subsequent probes throughout the school year.

The current study addresses results obtained from a classroom-based functional analysis of aggression at a private day school before and after medication changes. The initial functional analysis was conducted prior to medication changes. Results were undifferentiated across the four conditions tested (ignore, escape, attention, and free-play). Due to significant medication changes, a second traditional functional analysis was conducted post medication change, with clear differentiations between functions. Discussion points will focus on functional analyses in the natural setting, undifferentiated functional analyses, variations on traditional functional analysis conditions, and effects of behavioral medications on functional analysis results.

Researchers are continuing to diversify the methods used in functional analyses. Sometimes it is necessary to modify traditional functional analysis conditions to address the contexts in which behavior change is required. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the results of an experimental analysis that included functional and structural analyses. The participant was a 9-year-old male with autism who was engaging in property destruction behaviors at home and the community. The target behavior for the study was property destruction. Traditional experimental conditions were conducted; however, nontraditional conditions were required to identify the function within the participants idiosyncratic behaviors. The analyses extended functional analysis methods using procedures that matched the clients response class. The presenters will describe the results of the functional analysis and treatment analysis. Results will be discussed in terms of the need for dynamic functional analysis conditions and the intricacies of conducting functional analyses to lead to effective treatment of aberrant behavior.

The current study is a replication of Fisher, Lindauer, Alterson, and Thompson (1998) in which the function of destructive behavior was assessed and treated through a multi-part experiment, which targeted responses within a chain of behavior. In the current study, researchers examined property destruction (ripping/attempting to rip clothing or other materials) followed by stereotypy (playing with the destroyed material). Indirect assessment showed destructive behavior to be maintained automatically. Experiment 1 involved 2 conditions: the client wearing un-ripped clothing and free access to already destroyed items of clothing. Experiment 2 compared the presence of un-ripped clothing on the clients body to a matched condition in which the room was baited with stimuli similar to that of ripped clothing. In experiment 3, researchers compared the presence of un-ripped clothing on the clients body to a condition in which the destructive response was blocked and client was redirected to play with matched stimuli. Results indicate a chained response in which the consequence of destruction became an antecedent for stereotypy, which was automatically reinforced. Treatment analysis examined the process of teaching non-destructive responses to generate similar sensory consequences. Discussion points include satiation/deprivation issues when running multiple sessions daily on automatically maintained behaviors.

The science of behavior analysis has been applied to a myriad of human behaviors, including those of a sexual nature. The purpose of this presentation is to explore several research strategies for analyzing sex-related behavior, including sexual arousal responses, self-reported sexual practices, and latency-based responses on a computer task involving sexual stimuli. Presenters will discuss resulting data and their implications, as well as directions for future research. The utility and challenges of these measurement techniques will also be explored.

The penile plythesmograph is a device commonly used with sex offenders to measure penile tumescence in the presence of various stimuli. Showing arousal to deviant stimuli (e.g., videos of prepubescent children) has been shown to be a significant predictor of re-offense. An assumption in the field of sex offender assessment and rehabilitation is that increases in penile tumescence are due to the age and gender of the presented stimulus. Pictures and videos often used as stimuli are highly complex; they often vary across a number of features (e.g., hair color, skin color, clothing type) leaving open the possibility that one of the other stimulus features, besides age and gender, are controlling penile tumescence. The purpose of this study was to assess what effects these different features might have on the outcomes of plythesmograph assessments of intellectually disabled sex offenders. Each participant was exposed to three different videos of each specific age and gender category (e.g., Female 8-9 years old), using commercially available film clips designed for such purposes. The videos differed across a number of features (e.g., skin color, clothing type). Preliminary results indicate that stimulus features other than age and gender play an important role in assessment outcomes.

This symposium will consider the effects of meaning and training structure on equivalence class formation, the effects of relational type on the strength of relations among the stimuli in equivalence classes, and the induction of joint stimulus control by college level stimulus material. All four presentations address complex levels of stimulus control from different perspectives.

When a multi-nodal equivalence class is established by training AB, BC, CD, DE, EF, and FG, the class has a structure represented by A?B?C?D?E?F?G. Some emergent relations such as D?F and D?G are called transitive relations, while others such D?A and D?B are called equivalence relations. Two nodal stimuli separate the stimuli in the D?G and D?A relations while one nodal stimulus separates the stimuli in the D?F and D?B relations. According to a definitional view, all of the stimuli in an equivalence class are equally related to each other. Therefore, no preference should be shown for transitive over equivalence relations of the same nodal spreads. When evaluated using within class preference tests that pitted the 1-node transitive and equivalence relations against each other (D?B vs D?G) and the 2-node transitive and equivalence relations against each other, all participants showed virtually complete preferences for the transitive relations over the equivalence relations. Thus, relational type influences the relational strength of stimuli in transitive and equivalence relations. In contrast, when traditional cross class tests are conducted, all of the stimuli in an equivalence class function in an interchangeable manner, which reflects equal relatedness. The presentation will consider how both forms of relatedness can coexist. These data, along with preference data for nodal distance, support the view that2 structural parameters of equivalence classes control the differential relatedness of stimuli in equivalence classes.

When presented with complex stimulus arrays that have many features and descriptions of the features in those arrays, the selection of a correct description requires attending to all of the features, all of the components in the descriptions, and the correspondences of each feature and their corresponding descriptive components. When that occurs, the behavior is said to be under joint stimulus control. The present experiment describes how a joint stimulus control repertoire can be induced by use of matrix training, a minimal form of multiple exemplar training. This experiment was conducted using stimulus arrays that were graphs that depicted the interactive effects of two variables on behavior, and descriptions that were paragraphs that described the information contained in the graphs. Performances in a pretest showed a substantial amount of variation. For most participants, performances were much more indicative of joint stimulus control after matrix training, In addition, the post-training performances were similar to each other across participants, regardless of pre-test performances. The participants in the control groupshowed small changes in performances with a test retest procedure. These results then documented the efficacy of matrix training in the adduction of a generalized joint stimulus control repertoire, which resulted in participants identifying accurate and complete descriptions of the interactive effects of 2 variables on behavior for many novel graphs and corresponding descriptions.

When a2 3-node 5-member equivalence class is established by training AB, BC, CD, and DE on a concurrent basis, and all stimuli are meaningless, the classes are formed by 10% of the participants in Group 1. When the same classes are established using the same meaningless A, B, D, and E stimuli, along with a meaningful picture as the C stimulus, the classes are formed by 100% of the participants in Group 2. At the level of behavioral function, all meaningful cues serve as discriminative stimuli for some response. Thus, one of the factors that could account for the class-enhancing function of a meaningful stimulus might be its implicit discriminative function. This was assessed by having a third group attempt to form equivalence classes by training AB, BC, CD, and DE on a concurrent basis, where all stimuli were meaningless. Prior to class formation, however, the C stimuli acquired explicit discriminative functions by successive and simultaneous discrimination training. Thereafter, the classes were formed by 40% of the participants in Group 3. Thus, the implicit discriminative function served by a meaningful stimulus accounts for part of its class-enhancing effect. By implication, either overtraining of the discriminative function and/or other functions served by meaningful stimuli would have to account for the remaining class-enhancing effect shown by their inclusion as class members. Group 4 replicated the procedures used in Group 3 but with overtraining of the discriminative function, and 60% of the participants the formed classes. Therefore, overtraining of the discriminative function provided a modest increase in class enhancement. The remaining class enhancement effects of meaningful stimuli would have to be due to the other functions served by meaningful stimuli.

Lack of responding that is indicative of equivalence class formation may be related to a failure to respond according to the directly trained baseline relations at the time of equivalence tests. When establishing classes that has an LS structure, Eilifsen and Arntzen (2009) found that consistent responding according to the directly trained relations does indeed occur but is often not accompanied by class indicative performances by the derived relations probes. In this study unreinforced presentations of the baseline relations were interspersed among the derived relations test trials. Only one test block was presented. The current experiments determined whether similar findings would occur when the classes had other training structures. In Experiment 1, 62 college students were trained using either LS, OTM, or MTO structures. The experiment replicated the previous finding. Specifically, many participants responded in accordance with equivalence for both the directly trained relations and the derived relations. In contrast, other participants showed class indicative responding by the directly trained relations but the derived relations probes did not evoke responding that was in accordance with equivalence. These results are shown in Table 1. Therefore, the findings of Eilifsen and Arntzen (2009) were not contextually limited to classes with LS training structures. Rather, they occur regardless of the training structure of the equivalence classes. Experiment 1 did not involve continued testing for class formation. Thus, the results could not track the possible gradual emergence of responding in accordance with equivalence or the maintenance of the baseline relations during continued testing in classes that had different training structures or for classes of different sizes. To further illuminate the status of the directly trained relations in derived relations test blocks, both when equivalence performance is detected and when it is not, Experiment 2 will be conducted with an increased number of class members and with continued testing that will be conducted over several days. The results of this experiment extend the findings of Experiment 1, by permit us to track the maintenance of the baseline relations and the possible gradual emergence of derived relations over time and with co

Three presentations analyzing the application of TAGteach in the public school setting will be discussed. TAGteach is a technology based on the use of "markers" or auditory stimuli paired with the delivery of reinforcement to teach new behaviors. "TAG" stands for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance and is demonstrated in Dr. Julie Vargas' new book, Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching. Practitioners of TAGteach argue for its effectiveness in many endeavors across a wide range of populations. One setting TAGteach has demonstrated its effectiveness is in the educational setting. It starts from a point of success for the learner and the teacher, creates positive communication, eliminates nagging, and delivers instant reinforcement; all of which are important skills when working with children with various disabilities and skill deficits. The3 presentations will address the application of TAGteach in the public school setting and examine the fidelity of the implementation of TAGteach for a group of educators who participated in a TAGteach Primary Certification Course.

TAGteach employs the use of teaching with acoustical guidance to shape and reinforce target behaviors. TAGteach has several advantages in that it starts from a point of success for the learner and the teacher, creates positive communication, eliminates nagging, and delivers instant reinforcement. The TAGteach methodology has been used in several fields including management and business, sports, medical, animal training, and education. One of the unique features of the TAGteach training is that individuals with varied backgrounds and education can understand and apply the TAGteach methodology to their specific field immediately after attending the training. Arkansas has been fortunate to have multiple TAGteach trainings focused on applying the principles of TAGteach to the public school setting. Participants attending the trainings range from paraprofessionals to therapists to administrators. This presentation will explore how participants transfer the skills learned in TAGteach to their educational setting. Specific examples, including video examples, demonstrating the use of TAGteach within various school settings will be shared.

This study examined the training of3 behaviors (increasing transitioning speed, increasing accuracy and frequency in midline crossovers and wall taps, and response latency to teacher instruction) in a single subject who has total blindness. TAGteach or Teaching with Acoustical Guidance incorporates the use of a tagger (audible marker) while pairing it with positive reinforcement and shaping in order to quickly teach a vast repertoire of skills to individuals in a variety of populations. An auditory marker, or TAG was employed as a secondary reinforcer for shaping the desired behaviors. The intervention followed the tenets of applied behavior analysis and learning theory. The study was directed by personnel with TAGteach certification. A single case design with A-B-A withdrawal was utilized to implement the intervention, as well as increase the ease of collecting data. The interventions took place in a natural environmental setting where each child's behaviors were ecologically balanced. Thus far, the data indicates that the behaviors could be maintained at a level well above baseline. Data is still being collected and will be completed by presentation time. The implications of these results are discussed.

As with all applied behavior analysis (ABA) interventions, a level of fidelity when using TAGteach is needed to ensure positive outcomes. In the current student, 10 participants attended a TAGteach certification course and earned certification as a primary level TAGteacher. All of the participants work in a public school setting, have varying levels of education (high school diploma to PhD level), and had varying knowledge of the principles of ABA. During the TAGteach certification course, participants learn the TAGteach methodology and participate in several practical experiences to ensure a thorough understanding. Each participant's TAGteach lesson presented at the end of the training was scored by both trainers (Inter-observer Agreement (IOA) was 96%) using 6 of the skills presented during the training as being the key components of a TAGteach lesson. Participants will be observed again 4 to 6 weeks following the training and Functional Interview (FI) data will be collected and compared to the initial data to determine if skills learned in a TAGteach certification course are maintained.

One of the main reasons many new teachers leave the profession within 5 years is their lack of preparation to deal effectively with learning challenges. This symposium focuses on ways applied behavior analysis (ABA) training for teachers informs solutions for the many learning challenges faced by general and special education teachers in public schools. Applied behavior analysis has established numerous tactics for meeting most of these learning challenges. While there are notable examples of teacher preservice and in-service training programs that integrate ABA training most teachers enter the field without the benefit of such training. The 3 presentations in this symposium bring together the work of 3 different research and training efforts to address this gap. The first focuses on teacher interview data regarding the challenges of teaching in general education classrooms that include students with special needs. It concludes with ways these data can inform the development of ABA tools for general education teachers. The second presentation focuses on how the collection of screening data can be used to assure that appropriate levels of behavioral supports are provided for students. The third presentation focuses on improving outcomes for students and preservice teachers through partnerships with public schools.

One of the greatest difficulties faced by general education teachers is an assortment of behavioral problems. Teachers do not have any formal training that will permit them to (a) understand basic behavioral principles, (b) analyze the function of behavior, and (c) apply an appropriate behavioral strategy. The Competent Learner Model is based on applied behavior analysis and includes a course of study that coaches teachers to mastery of the knowledge and skills to effectively manage classroom behavior. The course was designed for special education classrooms so differences in the repertoires of students served in general education classrooms may require modifications of the course of study to make it effective there. In order to base such modifications on what challenges general education teachers face, we interviewed general education teachers to hear their descriptions of stress levels while dealing with students' misbehavior, satisfaction with students' participation, and perceptions of students' most frequent behavioral problems. The semistandardized interviews were conducted with 16 teachers. The data collected were analyzed via thematic content analysis, comparative analysis, logical analysis, and descriptive statistics. The study led to specific suggestions for modification of the Competent Learner Model Course of Study.

In this presentation we address the general education teacher's role in using systematic screening data to connect students with Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports within the context of 3-tiered models of prevention. Specifically, we will present findings from a series of studies conducted demonstrating how data from behavior screening tools (e.g., Student Risk Screening Scale; Drummond, 1994) have been used in conjunction with other data collected as part of regular school practices to detect students for whom primary prevention efforts are insufficient. We provide 2 illustrations of how single case methodology has been used to evaluate Tier 2 (low-intensity strategy interventions to improve academic performance) and Tier 3 (functional assessment-based interventions) interventions for these nonresponsive students. During this presentation, we will emphasize the importance of (a) employing scientifically rigorous designs adhering to core quality indicators of single case methodology (Horner et al., 2005), and (b) attending to feasibility issues when designing Tier 2 and 3 supports, given the multiple demands place on general education teachers (Lane, Kalberg, & Menzies, 2009).

This paper describes an innovative collaboration with a high need school district that provides opportunities for teacher candidates, university faculty, and public school teachers to collaborate to provide assessment-based instruction and support to K-8 at risk pupils. As part of a federally funded preservice training improvement program, special education faculty redesigned the field component of the teacher preparation program to enhance candidate use and analysis of evidence-based practices and provide needed resources to a local school district. Candidates learn how to identify and locate high quality research-based practices and then work with another candidate and a mentor teacher and other faculty in their field placements: (1) identifying specific instructional or behavioral needs within the school, (2) critically selecting research-based interventions to address the need, and (3) collaborating with others to integrate the selected interventions in current systems respectfully. Pupil outcome data collected in these activities highlight the positive impact of programming on pupil performance. Leveraging resources has resulted in shared professional development activities, research opportunities for students, and collaborative grant writing efforts.

When planning for a career after graduate school, you are faced with the difficult decision of what comes next. Some graduates choose to complete post-doctoral fellowships, but others choose to move directly into faculty or other positions. Some of the panelists for this professional development event completed post-doctoral fellowships, but others accepted faculty or other positions immediately following graduate school. Panelists will discuss their personal history of either being or not being a post doc, as well as, their current academic positions. Panelists will discuss some of the positive and negative impacts the decision to do or not do a post doc had on their current careers. Based on their own experiences, panelists will provide recommendations and advice about developing careers in behavior analysis. Hearing from panelists who have taken different paths to achieving their current positions should be helpful to students who are planning for the next step in their careers after graduate school.

Behavioral safety techniques have gained recognition for drastically increasing safe practices and preventing injuries in organizations. This symposium will include three data-based presentations that describe effective injury prevention strategies in different settings, including transportation, chemical manufacturing, and retail. Each presentation describes strategies that are different than traditional abehavior-basedsafety approach, providing attendees with new ideas to consider for research and practice.

The Oregon Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (OR-FACE) program is currently investigating potential intervention strategies for preventing reducing occupational fatalities arising from transportation-related events. Based on Oregon and U.S. fatalities statistics during the past7 years, workers over the age of 65 are at significantly higher risk of being killed in transportation-related events when compared to their younger counterparts. Within Oregon, the prevalence ratio of fatalities to workforce size for workers 65 and older in the transportation industry sector is roughly 3 times higher than that of workers in younger age groups. To investigate potential causes of this heightened risk, we have set out to test 4 hypotheses about the causes of elevated fatality risk among older workers using prior published research and Oregon Workers Compensation data. These hypotheses are: (1) Hazard Exposure: increased exposure of older adults to hazardous work environments due to elevated employment in certain high-risk occupations, (2) Organization of Work: differences in job design and work organization for older workers employed by small and larger organizations, (3) Physical Fragility: due to changes in physical resilience with age, older workers are less likely to survive severe traumatic injuries than younger counterparts, and (4) Changes in Physical and Cognitive Capacity: increased risk of fatal transportation-related events due to normative changes with age in cognition, psychomotor, vision, and hearing abilities.

In a study by Barker, Bailey, and Lee (2004) the authors used verbal prompts to increase the use of child safety-belts in shopping carts in two different settings. The current study was a replication and extension of this previous work. Using an ABAB reversal design, customers were verbally prompted upon entering the store to use child safety belts. In addition, the current study included data on the proportion of customers still using safety belts upon exit from the store, social validity data examining the acceptability of the procedures, and a 2-month follow-up. Results indicate that the procedure was effective at increasing child safety-belt use and that most patrons continued to use the belts until they exited the store. The social validity of the procedures was high, yet the 2-month follow-up indicated that, without vigilance by the establishment, customers ceased using the safety belts when no longer prompted to do so.

This paper will present BBS results in two manufacturing and petrochemical companies based on the level of Leadership participation. Data will also compare outcomes within one of the companies when management participation varied over time. Based on the increasing evidence around the importance of Leadership support in BBS, this paper also explores Leader roles in the prevention of low probability high impact incidents which occur most often in the area of process safety. BBS has primarily focused on individual safety and yet major disasters such as the Deep Water Horizon spill, various mining and petrochemical explosions such as the TX City Refinery are clearly not outside of the domain of a behavior approach. As shown by Komaki (1998) utilizing critical pinpointed leadership behaviors and coaching skillful monitoring, Leaders play a critical role in all aspects of individual safety performance. Similarly, identifying key Leadership practices can also play a crucial role in the prevention of process disaster as well. Based on this and the work of Hopkins (2000, 2007), a strategy for how behavioral safety practitioners can integrate these approaches will be presented.

With the international expansion of assessments and treatments based on applied behavior analysis (ABA), it is important for our science to consider the behavioral variability that exists between cultures. However, obstacles and difficulties can exist when providing services to "children and families of diverse cultural backgrounds." This will be the second panel in a two part series, and will follow the panel titled "Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Variables: Why and How Should Behavior Analysts Study Them?" The first panel will focus on theoretical, ethical and methodological issues in research on culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) variables. The second panel will focus on how practitioners work with CLD individuals and discuss their application of ABA-based services to culturally and linguistically diverse individuals in their practices. They will also discuss the limitations and challenges they have faced when working with CLD individuals. Finally, panelists will recommend future directions for ABA-services to culturally and linguistically diverse individuals.

Interteaching, an emerging evidence-based behavior analytic teaching method, has been shown to positively impact student learning and satisfaction. This symposium will first provide a broad overview of interteaching and its key components. Next, a brief review of past and present interteaching research will be provided. In particular, in an effort to determine which components of interteaching contribute to its efficacy; 2 different component analyses of interteaching will be discussed. The first component analysis focused on the effectiveness of the lecture component of interteaching on student exam performance. The second component analysis focused on an evaluation of the effectiveness of pair discussion on student quiz performance. A third interteaching study focused on the effects of interteaching on student performance with application-based activities, as well as its utility in longer class periods and with other teaching technologies. The symposium will culminate with recommendations for those interested in future interteaching-related research.

The purpose of this investigation was to address 3 contemporary questions related to interteaching (Boyce & Hineline, 2002). First, while behavior analysts have developed numerous technologies that promote learning in higher education, investigations of the effects of these instructional methods on student performance rarely look at outcomes on application based assessments or clinical activities outside the college classroom. Second, the implementation of interteaching has been limited to shorter, more frequent class meetings in the literature. Finally, it is not clear, when implementing interteaching in a longer class period, with what other teaching technologies interteaching can be effectively and feasibly paired. Here, data will be presented on the effects of interteaching, used in conjunction with evaluation and application exercises, on students� performance on short-essay based application quizzes and clinical assessment skills conducted in a public school classroom for a 3-hour undergraduate course on Assessment in Special Education.

Teaching as applied behavior analysis is comprised of acquiring the vocabulary of the science and contingency shaped behaviors and developing verbally mediated repertoires. In CABAS model and CABAS component schools this is typically achieved through highly intensive educational training program and supervision. Identifying the most effective components of both training and supervision is necessary to ensure optimal outcomes for staff and students. Components such as the Teacher Performance Rate/Accuracy (TPRA), Cork-CABAS Decision Tree Protocol, and The Strategic Analysis of the Learn Unit have a long standing history of being functionally related. with those outcomes. Primarly data on these components have been collected in CABAS model settingsthat incorporate a full bodied university training degree program. In settings where a full university model is not easily accessible there has been much less research on the effectiveness of these components. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the staff training procedures used in full CABAS model programs will yield similar results in programs without a fully developed university degree program. Each of the papers reported herein will describe the components addressed and the associated outcomes. The results are reported as a function of the relationship between improving teaching performance and student outcomes.

Few studies have investigated the utility of the interlocking three-term contingency, the learn unit, combined with a detailed error analysis regarding the training of instructors to visually inspect data sets and effectively carry out rule-governed decisions based on these analyses. Though it stands to reason that the larger community of behavior analysts would conduct these analyses during training and provide corresponding consequences and remediation as such, this is often not the case. In fact, many behavior analysts, educators, and psychologists alike continue to use didactic training formats as their primary, and in some cases, only means for training new staff and addressing skills deficits with more experienced staff. Furthermore, this is a common model for training related to visual data analysis and teaching staff members to make decisions following their real-time inspection of collected data. The purpose of this study was to test and potentially further previous discoveries by applying an error analysis with learn unit treatment package across three participants who worked as teaching assistants at a school for children with autism. This delayed multiple baseline across subjects design was employed in respect to staff training on a rule-governed, data-based decision-making protocol, which demonstrated persuasive viability of this treatment.

Implementation of CABAS-based programs for children with and without disability in Italy raised many questions in the whole country about the need for special education environments. All Italian education is public and all students with disability and/or learning problems are integrated in regular education classrooms. With two pilot researches, we attempted to isolate some variables responsible for change in students and teachers behavior when components of CABAS were implemented in public school environments. Also, CABAS could participate in improving regular education environments as a training camp for teachers. Nine teachers performances were measured following 200 hours of training in a Public School classroom, in a learning centre using Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and in a CABAS classroom. The teaching performance was measured based on 5 repertoires identified as the features of the best expertise in education (Greer, 2002; Heward, 2003). Data suggested that training teachers in a comprehensive ABA environment tremendously improved teachers performance and that CABAS was the most efficient training system compared with regular education and ABA-based general training . We will discuss the significance of these data in terms of advancement of behavior analysis and scientific pedagogy.

The purpose of this study was to try to teach special education teachers to implement novel educational methodologies in post-communist system of education with full student segregation and therefore change their students educational outcomes. After intense in-situ teacher training, we tested the effects of a peer-yoked contingency game on the acquisition of observational learning, Naming, and spontaneous speech in their students ages 6 to 8 year old with diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder and other developmental delays in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We tried to replicate USA study that induced all the above capabilities in 6 preschoolers in inclusive setting. Six special education students, 3 males and 3 female, served as the participants for this study in B&H. None of the students were able to learn through group instruction due to missing verbal capabilities, but due to the nature of their classrooms and the schools curriculum the use of known protocols while working 1:1 to induce the missing capabilities, was not practical. Through a delayed, multiple baseline design, we sought to demonstrate the effects of a combination of protocols on the acquisition of 3 missing verbal capabilities: observational learning, Naming, and spontaneous speech. The results demonstrate the peer-yoked game board with an MEI component was effective at increasing Observational Learning, Naming and spontaneous speech capabilities in all 6 participants. These results showed that USA teacher successes can be replicated in the Bosnian school through intense evidence-based teacher training

The Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS) model identifies critical repertoires for teachers in several key areas: contingency-shaped behavior, rule-governed/verbally mediated behavior, and verbal behavior about the science. Approaching teacher repertoires from a behavior analytic perspective, we recast our teachers as strategic scientists and taught them to think of themselves in that way. The CABAS Decision Tree Protocol (Keohane & Greer, 2005) has been used with success in both classroom settings with teachers and in treatment centers with instructional therapists. It includes strategies for identifying instructional problems in the context of the learn unit and suggests a plan for solving challenges in the learning environment, following a series of steps to arrive at a solution. This paper will review the use of several components of the CABAS Decision Tree Protocol; discuss the strategies used for its implementation, and the improved outcomes for children who come into contact with these trained individuals.

Behavior analysis has made significant contributions in various specific domains but has yet to achieve widespread societal impact. This symposium will explore ways in which behavioral principles might be applied to issues of community governance and societal importance with an emphasis on underlying philosophical issues and conceptual matters. The symposium will open with a paper that re-imagines Skinner's Walden Two through a contemporary lens and explores the role values play in a science of human behavior. Moving to a more molecular focus, the second paper will provide a behavioral analysis of interpersonal discourse and debate with an emphasis placed on encouraging effective discussions by facilitating accurate perspective taking. The third paper will focus on challenges inherent in values based living and will propose a model for values-based communities that foster prosocial behaviors. Strategies for increasing the reach of behavior analysis into public policy domains will be discussed with special attention given to promising efforts currently underway. In addition, implications for future research and advocacy will be explored.

Discussion and discourse in which participants fail to understand the other participants perspective seems to be prevalent in many professional, personal, and political contexts. The current paper provides an analysis of potential behaviors and contextual variables that make up ineffective and effective discussions. The paper suggests various functional definitions of effective discussions and ineffective discussions. The authors suggest that during ineffective discussions people often think something is wrong with other discussion participants (i.e., the others are stubborn, dumb, evil, power-hungry, illogical or simply crazy). While such thoughts are likely reinforced in the moment, it leaves discussion participants with little to do to facilitate further conversation or reach an agreement. The authors also suggest that effective discussions may involve accurate perspective taking. Potential methods of facilitating such perspective taking will be examined (e.g., instructions to elucidate historical and current contextual variables that might contribute to current behavior).

The benefits of a life free from aversive control have long been noted in behavior analysis. In contemporary contextual behavioral approaches, this is discussed in terms of building repertoires that are primarily under the control of verbally-established values. Engagement in values-oriented behavior has been associated with lower physiological stress response (Creswell et al., 2006), improved academic achievement (Cohen et al., 2006), and greater feelings of love, connectectedness, empathy, and giving which mediate increased openness to threatening information (Crocker et al., 2008). Persisting in values-oriented behavior is associated with a number of psychological benefits. Valued living, or maintaining values-oriented behavior outside of the lab, however, presents a significant challenge. This conceptual paper will provide a theoretical analysis of the inherent challenge in pursuing valued living, the role of the socioverbal context in promoting behavior under aversive control, and the socioverbal context that would support valued living. The values-based community will be proposed as a model for supporting valued living in family, work, cultural and spiritual communities. Kahlil Gibran wrote, "Work is love made visible." Perhaps, with intention, communities can be built in which even the most perfunctory actions can truly be love made visible.

Music has multiple effects and functions in people's lives, both among those who actively participate in its production and those who listen to musical performances. The current symposium discusses some of the ways that music has been utilized and studied in the therapeutic setting, from a variety of different theoretical perspectives. Possible applications of music in therapeutic situations will be discussed, with a special emphasis on ways that music can facilitate progress in therapeutic domains specified by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). In particular, the relevance of music as a tool to enhance or underscore psychological flexibility will be emphasized. In addition, potential strategies for investigating ways that music affects interpersonal experience will be described. Finally, potential theoretical implications of the study of music will be discussed, including the possible relevance of Relational Frame Theory and related behavioral phenomena such as transformation of function, arbitrarily (and non-arbitrarily) derived relational responding, and combinatorial entailment.

This paper discusses some of the literature on the effects of music, both from a biological and from a therapeutic perspective, leading into possible avenues of exploration from a behavior analytic perspective. Music evokes various and complex responses, and many individuals have reported that music has been a valuable tool for psychological insight, even claiming that music "understands them." In general, much of research on music therapy has focused on active participation in a musical experience, but potential for application to the experience of the musical listener holds much promise. Music can be established as a safe context through which a given individual's emotions can be expressed and understood. In addition, a listener may verbally place personal experiences inside aspects of the musical material, an experience described in the literature with the psychoanalytic term "projective identification." Behavior analysis can also provide a non-mentalistic language, based on environment-behavior relations, with which to discuss such experiences. One possible framework that can be used to this effect is the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy "hexaflex" model.

This paper examines the ways in which music can be experienced psychologically, examined within the "hexaflex" framework of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). When discussed in terms of the processes identified by the hexaflex model (being present, acceptance, defusion, self-as-context, values, and committed action), music can serve multiple and in some cases contradictory functions depending upon the context. For example, music has been used as a therapeutic tool for being in the present moment but also can function as a device to be distracted from the present moment. Of particular interest here is the experience of fusion, which has been conceptualized as the tendency to treat a thought as what it refers to. Looked at in this way, music (and, often, its corresponding lyrics) can lead to a version of fusion in the sense that the listener can get so into the listening experience that the person may say "I lost myself in the music." The question of whether this promotes or detracts from psychological flexibility in a general sense may lie in the functional rather than structural properties of the musical experience.

This paper examines possible applications of Relational Frame Theory to the study of music. The psychological effects of music are varied, and lead to a number of different questions, including: Is music processed by humans in the same way as language, and what are the important differences? How do lyrics interact with music, and how might music change the experience of lyrical content? Do structural components of music (rhythm, melody, harmony, etc.) have inherent meaning, or is meaning only generated by the historical associations that it evokes? Obviously, many learned responses to music come from direct experience, for example the association of songs with specific memories and emotions. However, there are also ways in which music could generate novel behavior via psychological transformation of function. Music, and the emotional states in generates, could potentially exert contextual control over the transformation of psychological function, or serve as a vehicle for perspective-taking to facilitate non equivalence-based transformation of function. Finally, study of the effects of music may facilitate the investigation of combinatorial or time-based, relational frames, such as "building up to" or "coming down from."

Skinner's (1957) taxonomy of verbal behavior has increased in popularity as a curricular approach for children with autism in recent years (e.g., Sundberg, 2008). Although based on a strong conceptual framework, continued empirical support is necessary to verify the efficacy of programming based on this analysis (Carr & Firth, 2005). Specifically, studies are warranted that demonstrate the emergence of true verbal operants or verbal behavior that emerges from a history of derived relational responding as opposed to explicit instruction and reinforcement (Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes, & Cullinan, 2000). This symposium will present3 studies demonstrating effective teaching protocols that produced unreinforced verbal responses in young children with disabilities. Kobari-Wright, Miguel, Quah, and Lee investigated the effects of listener responding instruction on novel speaker behavior in4 children with autism. Grannan and Rehfeldt investigated the effects of multiple tact and match-to-sample instruction on emergent intraverbal categorization responses in2 children with autism. Choi and Greer studied the effects of match-to-sample instruction on emergent echoic, listener, and speaker responding in children with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Recent studies have demonstrated that the skill of sorting objects by category develops with no direct training when objects occasion the same speaker and listener behavior (naming). The purpose of the current study was to examine the role of listener training in the emergence of speaker behavior and novel categorization. Participants included four children diagnosed with autism (ranging from 4–5 years of age). The effects of listener training were evaluated using a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design across participants. Three children, who failed to categorize or emit the speaker behavior correctly during pretraining were able to do so during the posttraining probes. After acquiring the listener behavior, the fourth participant required the direct training of the speaker behavior in order to categorize the stimuli. These results suggest that listener training alone may be an efficient way to produce novel categorization in children diagnosed with autism, as long as full naming is developed.

In 2 experiments with 7- and 8-year-old children with autism or ADHD (4 children in Experiment 1 and 3 in Experiment 2), we tested the effects of an auditory match-to-sample (MTS) protocol on (a) complex echoics, (b) listener literacy, (c) emergence of speaker-as-own-listener cusps, and additionally in Experiment 2, and(d) preferences for listening to voices. An auditory MTS Flash instructional program displayed on a computer screen1 button at the top center of the screen (touching resulted in sample word[s] heard) and2 buttons below it in the bottom corners of the screen (sample/incorrect heard). In the intervention, participants mastered MTS for words or phrases in progressively more complex stages. Experiment1 used a delayed multiple probe, and Experiment2 a nonconcurrent multiple-probe, across participants design. Mastery of the MTS protocol resulted in significant improvements in complexity of echoic responses, listener literacy, and some speaker-as-own-listener developmental cusps. In Experiment 2, mastery of the auditory MTS protocol also increased preference for listening to voices. We discuss the relation of auditory matching as the intercept of speaker and listener responses related to increased conditioned reinforcement for voices resulting from the auditory matching protocol.

Verbal behavior often operates under multiple sources of stimulus control (Michael, Palmer, & Sundberg, 2011). Multiple sources of control may involve unnecessary or unwanted variables that may limit a behavioral repertoire. In some cases, however, this control is a necessary and efficient way to establish new responses. The current symposium explores investigations on both ends of this arena by evaluating methods to both increase and decrease sources of stimulus control over responding. Two investigations explore unwanted sources of stimulus control by transferring control to appropriate variables, one of which evaluates the role of stimulus blocking when control is transferred from a single versus multiple sources of control. The third investigation then utilized intraverbal responses to evoke and establish novel operant response chains. Finally, the fourth explores evaluate whether the response strength (as measured by response fluency) effects the results of transfer of stimulus control in the emergence of intraverbal behavior.

Transfer of stimulus control is a procedure used frequently in language acquisition rooted inSkinners (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. There are inconsistencies in the applied literature regarding the role of transfer of stimulus control via stimulus fading or transfer of stimulus control using time delay. Basic research points us to the use of time delay for several reasons, one of which is stimulus blocking. Stimulus blocking may interfere with the acquisition of new verbal operants when transfer from existing verbal repertoires are used. One method to avoid stimulus blocking may be to teach verbal operants under multiple sources of control and subsequently eliminate unnecessary sources of control for each verbal operant. The current study sets up each training paradigm: transfer of control via time delay from existing to nonexisiting verbal operants (e.g., echoic to tact transfer) and multiple control (simultaneously training all operants and subsequently fading additional sources of control (e.g., echoic, mand and tact to mand). Results will be discussed in terms of variables responsible for the efficiency of each procedure across participants.

Researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of time delay procedures to teach mands, but have had difficulty demonstrating that the responses are emitted in the absence of control by other variables. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a rolling time delay procedure (Sweeney-Kerwin et al., 2007) to teach two children with autism to mand for items that were not present. Following an assessment to determine the stimuli controlling mand responses, an intraverbal prompt and the item were presented to the participant. The stimuli were then removed and a 2 min time delay began in which spontaneous mands could occur. Within and across session fading was used to increase the amount of time that lapsed between presentations of the discriminative stimuli. The time between the beginning of the session and the presentation of the first discriminative stimulus was also systematically increased within and across session to demonstrate that the stimulus was not exerting control over responding. The frequency of mands emitted in the absence of discriminative stimuli increased for both participants and the data suggest that the mands were under control of the establishing operation. Generalization data also demonstrated that responses generalized to novel environments and therapists

Two methods of teaching self-instructions to 4 third grade students were compared to determine the effects on speed of acquisition. Four gross motor tasks composed of 5 steps were taught using self-instructions that prompted correct completion of each step of the task. Self-instructions were taught either as typical verbal prompts or as song lyrics. Results indicated that acquisition of tasks was idiosyncratic, with 5 task pairs acquired more quickly using song lyric self-instructions, 2 task pairs with undifferentiated acquisition speed, and 1 task acquired more quickly using typical self-instructions. Generalization and social validity were assessed by teaching each participant an individualized novel skill using their choice of method. Two participants chose song lyric self-instructions and 2 chose typical self-instructions.

Precision Teaching (PT) is a teaching and measurement system that often incorporates fluency-based instruction or generating fluent responding, defined by reaching a level of accurate responding that can occur within a specific timeframe. Precision teachers view skill deficits from a component-composite framework in which component skills (e.g., basic addition facts) that are not fluent may contribute to composite skill (e.g., basic multiplication facts) deficits. Researchers have recently begun exploring the role of PT on skill acquisition using a component-composite analysis. This preparation allows researchers to demonstrate steady state responding on the component skill while intervening on the composite skill. There are several advantages to using this preparation. First, it allows researchers to identify useful component-composite relations to enhance skill instruction. Second, it allows for more controlled research to explore the outcomes claimed by precision teachers. A series of studies will be presented that explores PT as an independent variable on component-composite relations for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Bill Hopkins, a true ABA Pioneer, impacted our science and our lives over his distinguished 50+ year career. His impact is truly impossible to fully quantify, but the people whose careers and lives he touched speak to his profound contributions with deep respect and admiration.

Bill graduated Emory University in 1957 with a degree in psychology, and in 1961 earned a PhD in clinical psychology from Indiana University. He and his beloved wife, Bot, married in 1957 and started a family in 1961. They moved many places as Bill accepted teaching appointments at the University of Washington, Florida State University, Western Michigan University, Southern Illinois, and The University of Kansas. In 1988, Bill became the head of the psychology department at Auburn University, where he retired in 2001 as emeritus professor of psychology. Upon retirement from teaching, Bill’s passion for our science and its researchers and practitioners did not wane. His contributions continued through the Behavioral Safety Now network, his consultation with many organizations, and his gentle mentoring of students, faculty, and consultants.

A humble man, an ambassador for our field, and a relentless pursuer of scientific principles and application, Bill’s contributions to generations of scientists and practitioners will be honored in this invited address.

Bill's quiet, wise, good-humored style will be described, along with his level-headed contribution during a time of upheaval at Western Michigan University.

Bill spent 18 years at The University of Kansas where he made significant contributions to the science through his publications and teaching. His colleagues reminisce about Bill’s years in Kansas and the lasting impact of his work.

Bill Hopkins arrived at Auburn University in the Fall of 1988 to take over the position of Department Head from Peter Harzem. Bill’s eight years as Department Head were remarkable on many fronts. He recruited junior and mid-career faculty members who were solid scientists, many with funded research programs, and who shared Bill’s enthusiasm for graduate education and a meaningful undergraduate major in Psychology. He advocated a democratic approach to departmental governance that contributed to a shared sense that all faculty contributed to the department’s well-being. Bill also continued his strong presence as a leader in the area of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM), which included being a strong mentor for his students, many of whom are now OBM leaders. His gentle approach served as a model for many of us who worked with Bill and provided a calm spirit even during contentious discussions. He retired from Auburn, but certainly not from behavior analysis, in 2001.

Bill’s dedication to advancing the science continued through numerous OBM practitioners even after his retirement from academia. We were lucky in CLG to have Bill’s input and influence as we learned how to help companies embed behavior analysis into their businesses by developing internal consultants. The methodology and tools Bill helped create have stood the test of time and have been replicated across many client situations with great impact. He was also instrumental in helping develop our internal training and materials to ensure that as we translated the language of behavior analysis for business we stayed true to the underlying principles of our science. Those impacted by Bill’s enduring passion and wisdom recall his influence, both in person and via video messages.

• Organizational systems and behavior analysis
• Facilitating executive alignment and deployment effectiveness
• Leading enterprise-wide coaching and performance improvement solutionsEducation and Background

I review the latest research on the evolutionary relationships of dogs at the level of species and breeds. I briefly review the concept of, and evidence for, behavioral genetics in dogs before developing two basic principles of behavior: 1) species- (or breed-) typical behavior developed under evolutionary pressures and 2) the interaction of genes and environment, bringing in the role of experience and learning, to develop a modern ethological view of dog behavior. I then illustrate these principles with examples from comparative research on wolf and dog behavior and on breed-specific patterns in innate and learned behavior in dogs. Finally, I demonstrate the implications of evolutionary history, genetics and the environment for interpreting the social dynamics of domestic dogs. My goal is to illustrate a modern view of animal behavior which is intensely integrative, drawing together many disciplines including genetics, physiology, endocrinology, neurobiology, learning theory, and ethology under the organizing laws of evolution.

Interest in behavioral activation (BA) in the treatment of depression has gained worldwide acceptance and re-invigorated interest in a behavioral rather than a cognitive conceptualization of depression. According to the basic premise of the behavioral model, depression results from low rates of response-contingent positive reinforcement or increased rates of punishment. For vulnerable individuals such reinforcement contingencies may be correlated with low mood and other “symptoms” of depression. Individuals then respond to the symptoms in understandable ways to avoid bad feelings or responsibilities, but get stuck in a cycle of inertia that is negatively reinforced. As a treatment for depression, behavioral activation (BA) is based on this model, and the goal of BA is to reverse the “downward spiral” and help individuals to engage in activities that may serve an antidepressant function. The principles of BA can apply to problems other than depression, however, and may be used to modify avoidance behaviors in general. This presentation will review the potential use of BA as a transdiagnostic method for helping clients to engage in activities that will increase the likelihood that approach behaviors, rather than avoidance, will be reinforced leading to more productivity and satisfaction.

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The field of behavior analysis has shown tremendous potential to produce significant system change. Unfortunately, the application of science and technology in social systems isn't just about the quality of the evidence-base but also the capacity to navigate the implementation of the science through complex systems change efforts. This presentation will provide an overview of what we have learned in the past dozen years regarding the implementation of a positive behavior support approach in Florida. The Florida PBS Project has had a mission to increase the capacity of school districts to implement PBS within a multi-tiered continuum of student support. The presentation will discuss the systems change practices that have led to implementation in over 1200 schools and the outcome data about the impact of that implementation. Lessons learned from state, district and inter-project collaborations will be shared with the participants as well as existing barriers to implementation of a multi-tiered system of support with fidelity.

The terms molar and molecular analysis have been used for several decades in experimental psychology and have changed definition and usage during this time. For example, Skinners operant conditioning was founded on a molecular behavior analysis in the 1930s. Yet, some contemporary models interpret operant behavior only at the molar level. The presentation will trace the history of the terms molar and molecular and articulate a need for inclusion of analyses at the level of individual response bouts, reinforcers, and stimuli in the 1-30 s range and define an analysis at this level as a molecular analysis. Illustrations will show how experimental manipulations can affect behavior at that level. Additional illustrations will demonstrate how behavior transitions during automated shaping relate to local reinforcing events. Besides, the presentation will outline novel ways on examining local dynamics of bouts of behavior that last a few seconds. The presentation will introduce the concept and method of conditional data analysis, which emphasizes collecting and analyzing data conditional on local events antecedent to response emission. The overall emphasis of the tutorial will be empirical rather than theoretical. Molecular analyses have critical interpretative implications for well-established findings in existing literature.

Graduate students and professionals

In the current symposium, 4 individuals will present research on basic learning processes for the assessment and treatment of problem behavior or for increasing appropriate task engagement. The first presenter, Gracie Beavers, will review functional analysis data of target and precursor behavior for 3 trained relations, a response class, a behavior chain, and a precurrent-current relation. The second presenter, Jill Harper, will review a study evaluating the effects of different types of group contingencies on appropriate behavior and problem behavior. The third presenter, Kevin Schlichenmeyer, will present data on the assessment and treatment of automatically-reinforced stereotypy and on an inhibitory stimulus control procedure for promoting treatment generalization across novel settings. The fourth presenter, Erin Leif, will review a study on a component analysis of self-monitoring for increasing appropriate task engagement and decrasing problem behavior.

Severe problem behavior poses a challenge to assessment due to the potential risks during the course of a functional analysis (FA). One proposed solution is the precursor FA (Smith & Churchill, 2002), in which assessment contingencies are placed on responses that precede and are assumed to be members of the same response class as the target behavior. However, a response class is only 1 example of a relation in which 1 response reliably precedes another: Response-response relations also include the chain or precurrent-current relation, which may be obscured in an FA of precursor behavior. The purpose of this study was to show how programmed contingencies in a precursor FA may obscure known response-response relations. First, response classes, behavior chains, and precurrent-current relations were established using arbitrary responses. Contingencies analogous to those used in an FA of target and precursor behavior subsequently were implemented with each relation. Results for 4 subjects show similarities and differences in response patterns under the 3 trained relations.

Group contingencies are distinct from individual contingencies in that performance of one individual influences the delivery of reinforcement to another. Thus, group contingencies may occasion other, nonprogrammed social contingencies of a cooperative or competitive nature. It is often unclear how behavior was changed because this unique feature of group contingencies has rarely been examined. The purpose of this study was to examine the types of social interaction, as well as performance, generated by competitive and cooperatve group contingencies relative to those observed under an independent contingency. In addition, we examined both behavior acquisition (sorting task) and behavior reduction (out-of-seat behavior) because it seemed likely that reinforcement and punishment might occasion different types of interactions. Three groups, each comprised of 3 individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities, participated. All subjects exhibited a minimum vocal repertoire of 2-word utterances. Results will be discussed in terms of performance, general patterns of interaction, and the specific types of interactions observed across contingencies.

Individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit stereotypy, a behavior that has been correlated with academic and social impairments. Although there are a number of empirically validated treatment options for stereotypy, there is a paucity of research aimed at programming generalization and maintenance of treatment effects. In this study, we conducted a functional analysis and treatment assessment for stereotypy exhibited by 4 children diagnosed with an ASD. We evaluated a 10-s hands down procedure or a response interruption and redirection procedure, using a reversal design to demonstrate experimental control. In an effort to promote generalization of treatment effects across novel settings, we presented a stimulus during intervention sessions. Using a concurrent multiple baseline across settings design, we evaluated the effects of the previously paired stimulus in the absence of intervention to determine whether inhibitory stimulus control had been established. Although stereotypy was successfully reduced during treatment, we did not observe generalized suppression during nonintervention test sessions, suggesting that the stimulus paired with intervention sessions did not establish inhibitory control. We will review the implications of these findings and offer suggestions for further research on treatment generalization and maintenance for automatically reinforced stereotypy.

Increasing independence is an important goal for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). Self-monitoring has been proposed as one strategy for increasing independence in individuals with ID because it involves transferring control of some aspect of treatment from the service provider to the direct consumer. However, self-monitoring is typically included as one component of treatment packages. Thus, it is unclear which component or combination of components is critical for the success of the intervention. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of a self-monitoring intervention on appropriate task engagement and automatically-reinforced problem behavior of 3 individuals with ID. First, we taught participants to accurately self-monitor their behavior prior to treatment using both video and in-vivo training. Second, we assessed the effects of self-monitoring intervention components by sequentially adding them across successive phases until clinically acceptable increases in the appropriate behavior were observed. We withdrew and reintroduced the effective treatment phase, using a reversal design to demonstrate experimental control. Results indicated that self-monitoring was only effective when combined with differential reinforcement for (a) accurate self-monitoring, or (b) appropriate task engagement and accurate self-monitoring. Increases in appropriate task engagement were accompanied by collateral decreases in automatically reinforced problem behavior.

As behavior analysts we have developed a highly refined field of basic Behavioral Pharmacology research evaluating the effects of drugs on behavior. We have not been as successful in developing the field of Applied Behavioral Pharmacology that evaluates the effects of drugs on behavior using those same behavioral principles. Research has focused on 1) contingency management with individuals exposed to drugs of abuse or 2) clinical effects of psychotropic drugs on problem behavior that co-occur with psychiatric conditions, primarily with individuals with disabilities. It is unclear how we might move forward to obtain funding for clinical trial research given the methods of individualized treatment and single subject designs we currently employ. After discussing current challenges to doing Behavioral Pharmacology research, the panel and audience will explore the benefits of formalizing the field of Applied Behavioral Pharmacology and the implications this may have for research, grant funding, and eventually clinical practice.

As the field of Behavior Analysis continues to grow, there has been an increase in the number of graduate training programs. The academic requirements to sit for certification are outlined by the BACB, as well as the accreditation standards by ABAI. Despite an outlined curriculum for academic coursework, there remains little to no standards for the content of what counts towards the experiential requirements for certification. Due to the large variety of careers behavior analysts pursue after training, it is difficult to identify what areas of training are mandatory for all behavior analysts. Further should those who seek to become practitioners have separate experiential requirements than researchers? Section 1.02 of the conduct guidelines address the behavior analysts ethical obligation to only provide services within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, and supervised experience. The panel proposes that there are important skill sets that should be required of all behavior analysts in training, as well as methods to measure competence, regardless of individual career goals. The panel will propose a few methods of assessing competence including video recording, practicum portfolios, and the use of task analysis, with a goal of encouraging all supervisors to utilize similar methods.

Obsessional, ritualistic, stereotyped, and repetitive behaviours are a core feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and researchers have conceptualized these behaviours in individuals with ASD on a continuum ranging from lower-level, motoric, repetitive behaviours to higher-order, obsessive-compulsive like, repetitive behaviours, which may include circumscribed interests, inflexible routines, and insistence on sameness (Hollander, Wang, Braun, & Marsh, 2009). This symposium will describe research findings from three intervention studies, which involve higher-order repetitive behaviour in children with ASD. The first study investigated the use of a group function-based cognitive behavioural treatment (GFb-CBT) package to reduce obsessive-compulsive behaviour (OCB) in7 children with high functioning autism (HFA). The second is an in-depth case study of an additional participant (young girl with HFA) who received the GFb-CBT package described in Study 1, with a focus on parental OCD tendencies and other variables that impact assessment/treatment. The third study will present an investigation using circumscribed interests, with prompting and reinforcement, to teach responding to joint attention directives in 3 children with ASD.

Individuals with ASD frequently experience obsessions and compulsions that meet the DSM-IV-TR criteria (APA, 2000) for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Given the acknowledged difficulty in differentiating between OCD and Autism-related OC phenomena, the present study will use the term Obsessive Compulsive Behaviour (OCB). This study examined Group Function-based CBT (GFb-CBT) to reduce OCB in children with High Functioning Autism (HFA). A multiple baseline design across parent reports of OCB was used to examine effects of this package for seven children (7-11 years of age). For three participants, probe data was also collected. The GFb-CBT protocol I Believe in Me, not OCD! (Vause et al., 2010) consisted of an indirect functional assessment, awareness training, cognitive-behavioral skills training, and graded exposure plus response prevention. Across seven participants, a total of 37 behaviors were treated; visual inspection indicated that 26 behaviors improved with treatment and11 stayed the same. Complementing time series data, standardized assessments showed decreases in symptom severity, and increases in quality of life. Correspondence between parent report and probe data was 82.6% (range = 62% 94%). Treatment integrity was collected for four of seven participants on 67% of sessions; TI was 100%.

Research has found that approximately 37 percent of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) meet diagnostic criteria for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (Leyfer et al., 2006). The present case involved an 11-year-old female with High Functioning Autism who displayed Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior (OCB), and had a family history of obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Targeted behaviors included: seeking reassurance related to contamination and harm to self/others, excessive toothbrushing, and a strong need to complete activities. Eight behaviors were targeted in a 9-week manualized Group Function-based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (Fb-CBT) (Vause et al., 2010), with individual support provided to the parents in between sessions. The treatment consists of an indirect functional assessment, awareness training, cognitive-behavioral skills training, and graded exposure plus response prevention. A multiple-baseline design across parent report data (OCBs) was used to evaluate the effects of treatment for this child. Visual inspection indicated that six of the eight behaviors immediately improved when the treatment package was administered. All sessions were taped, and treatment integrity data is currently being collected. In addition to demonstrating the success of this treatment in reducing OCB, this presentation will focus on parental OCB tendencies, and how they present various challenges but also aid in the treatment of pediatric OCB.

Children with autism often exhibit restricted interests in specific topics which many believe preclude social engagement with others or become more intense if included in intervention. However, studies have demonstrated that integrating topics of restricted interests into intervention materials has benefits on social-communicative interactions between children with autism and their siblings, peers, and caregivers. Studies by the applicant, which integrated topics of restricted interests into joint attention intervention materials, have demonstrated improvements, such as increased joint attention and decreased restricted interest intensity. Joint attention occurs when two people engage in verbalizations, gestures and/or eye contact between each other and a common object. It is a characteristic deficit specific to autism and its presence has been directly related to the success of other intervention measures, including language growth. As such, it is important to empirically demonstrate efficient intervention procedures, which using restricted interests may represent. The proposed paper will discuss results from two studies targeting joint attention, limitations and prospective future research directions.

Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD) has been shown to be an effective intervention for the treatment of stereotypy (Ahearn et al., 2007). This symposium includes three data-based presentations further evaluating various aspects of this treatment. In the first presentation, Mariana Torres-Viso will present a study evaluating if RIRD task selection affects the effectiveness of the procedure. In the second presentation, Tamara Perry will present a study evaluating the effects of RIRD during discrete trial instruction on expressive and receptive language skills in children with autism. In the last presentation, Kimberly Sloman will present a study evaluating the compatibility of RIRD with ongoing academic demands as well as the effects of stimulus control procedures to improve the generalization of treatment effects. Finally, Dr. William Ahearn will present a discussion of the three studies.

Previous research has shown that response interruption and redirection (RIRD) is an effective intervention for automatically reinforced vocal stereotypy (e.g., Ahearn et al. 2007). Two forms of RIRD are motor RIRD (e.g., asking the student to imitate when the teacher models certain movements) and vocal RIRD (e.g., asking the student to engage in vocal tasks such as echoing the teacher). Research has shown that these forms result in similar reductions in stereotypic behavior (e.g., Ahrens et al. 2011, Cassella et al., 2011). Research on the underlying mechanisms of RIRD has indicated that the procedure functions as a punisher to stereotypy (rather than extinction). Target demands for the RIRD are often arbitrarily chosen. However, if certain demands do not function as punishers, then RIRD may not be effective. The purpose of the current study was to assess the effectiveness of various tasks (e.g., mastered motor and vocal tasks, tasks identified as non-preferred via choice assessments) on the efficacy of RIRD. Preliminary results indicate that for some individuals, differential effectiveness was observed across tasks.

Vocal stereotypy maintained by automatic reinforcement is a difficult behavior to treat in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). One intervention that has shown to be effective is response interruption and redirection (RIRD; Ahearn et al., 2007). However, little is known about the efficacy of RIRD during discrete trial instruction (DTI) and the effects of vocal stereotypy on learning. Given the inherent teaching component within RIRD, in which previously acquired vocal tasks are practiced, the repetition of these tasks may increase the likelihood that children will maintain these and similar responses over time. Moreover, it is possible that children will be able to learn more effectively once vocal stereotypy responses are reduced. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the treatment of vocal stereotypy via RIRD during DTI on expressive and receptive language skills, as measured by the Preschool Language Scale-4, in children with ASD between three to five years of age. Language skills and stereotypy levels were compared to children who received DTI without RIRD. In addition, data are included on the natural maturation of language skills in preschoolers with ASD who received alternative therapies (e.g., occupational therapy, music therapy) without early intensive behavioral intervention.

Previous research has shown that response interruption and redirection (RIRD) is an effective intervention for automatically reinforced vocal stereotypy (e.g., Ahearn et al. 2007). In general, RIRD procedures involve presenting demands to the student contingent upon vocal or motor stereotypy. Some disadvantages to this approach have been noted including: a) the amount of time spent in the RIRD procedure and b) failure of treatment effects to generalize to different staff members. Additionally, compatibility with ongoing academic demands has not been assessed. The purpose of the current investigation is to evaluate RIRD during academic demands compared to no treatment academic sessions to assess levels of stereotypy, rate of demands, time in RIRD, compliance with demands across RIRD and no treatment sessions. Additionally the purposes of the current study are to evaluate the effects of stimulus control procedures on the generalization responding to the RIRD procedure during various academic tasks. Preliminary research indicates that although stereotypy was lower in RIRD sessions, nearly 33.0% of the work session was spent implementing RIRD. However, the addition of stimulus control procedures reduced the total time in RIRD and improved generalization of treatment effects.

While in school, the goal for most students is typically focused on some type of skill acquisition, either functional life skills or academically based curricula. However, many students with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities engage in behaviors that interfere with instruction and therefore skill acquisition. While adolescents may have a longer history of engaging in such behaviors than younger students, they also have less time remaining in the classroom environment. The question becomes, what are some proven, efficient methods for decreasing these interfering behaviors in order to take advantage of the time for increasing academic and functional skills. This symposium is comprised of a review of current literature on methods to reduce interfering behaviors, as well as 2 studies examining such methods with adolescent students in a private school for children with autism spectrum disorder. Studies include data on reduction of behavior that interfere with instruction, in addition to data indicating effects on skill acquisition.

While in school, the goal for most students is typically focused on some type of skill acquisition, either functional life skills or academically based curricula. However, many students with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities engage in behaviors that interfere with instruction and therefore skill acquisition. . While adolescents may have a longer history of engaging in such behaviors than younger students, they also have less time remaining in the classroom environment. The question becomes, what are some proven, efficient methods for decreasing these interfering behaviors in order to take advantage of the time for increasing academic and functional skills. There is a thorough literature base surrounding this question. This paper is a brief, comprehensive review of the literature through 2011 and discussion of the implications for students in specialized school settings. While some studies involving young children and adults are conversed, the main emphasis will surround adolescents with special needs.

One challenge with teaching adolescents with autism spectrum disorder can be an extended history of engaging in disruptive behaviors during instructional times. Prior to this study, the participant engaged in high levels of verbal and non-verbal behaviors, which effected the accuracy of his responses, his schedule of reinforcement, the fluency of instruction, and what programs and skills could be targeted. This study investigated the effects of vocal and visual cues and Differential Reinforcements of Other Behavior (DRO) on reducing verbal and non-verbal interfering behavior during instruction. The procedure was initially implemented during individual instruction time with one staff member. Prior to an interval the student was given a verbal and visual cue. If the participant did not engage in interfering behavior during that interval, his big(a large amount of his edible of choice) was delivered. If he did engage is disruptive behaviors, a very small amount of that item was delivered. Percent of intervals without interfering behaviors increased. The same procedure was implemented across instructors and during group instruction during with similar results. Maintenance data to follow.

Many students with autism spectrum disorder engage in behaviors that can interfere with instruction in the school environment. Prior to this study, multiple interventions had been implemented to address the participants stripping, aggression, self-injury, flopping, and inappropriate verbal behavior. While some interventions initially appeared to be successful, within time a steady increase in these behavior would occur. While these behaviors occurred most often in the instruction setting, attention was also found to have some control. This study examines the effect of designated demand and reinforcement conditions, and time based intervention changes on the behaviors interfering with instruction. Initially the participants day consisted of 75-percent green time, during which he could access any available reinforce including any adults attention, interspersed with 25-percent red time, during which low level demands were given and the instructor was the only adult attending to him. Time in green and red were systematically increased. Subsequently, time based changes to types of reinforcement, format of plan materials, and other components of the independent variable occurred. Time between changes has since systematically increased. Data indicated decreased rates and durations of interfering behaviors as well as increase in all instructional programing.

Research presented in this symposium focuses on behavioral and technological innovations in the promotion of physical activity. Miller and colleagues will present a package intervention (including goal setting, self-monitoring, and feedback) to increase daily step totals in healthy adults. Gibson and colleagues will present a contingency management intervention to increase physical activity in healthy adults. Both of these studies utilized the Fitbit device to collect step count and activity level data. Benitez-Santiago and Miltenberger will present a study that utilized video feedback to enhance martial arts performance in healthy adults. Dittrick and Cameron will present a package intervention (including self-monitoring, goal setting, correspondence training, social support systems, stimulus control, shaping, and relapse prevention) to increase variables related to exercise in normal-weight, overweight, and obese adults.

Most American adults would not be classified as physically active according to CDC guidelines (2010). Contingency management interventions have been used to target physical activity with mixed effects. Some adults respond to contingency based interventions (responders), while others are insensitive (non-responders). In a contingency management study in our lab, healthy adults wore a Fitbit pedometer and earned prize draws when reaching a daily step criterion based upon a percentile schedule of reinforcement. Ten out of the fifteen participants increased average daily walking by at least 1000 steps, and were categorized as responders to the intervention. We compare structural features of activity between responders and non-responders. Low baseline activity predicted greatest change increases in steps per day. Additionally, a log-survivor analysis of inter-step intervals revealed that subjects could meet criterion by increasing the average length of bouts, frequency of bouts, or rate of stepping within a bout. This analysis informs how specific features of baseline activity levels can be used to tailor interventions to increase physical activity.

Moderate daily physical activity provides many important health benefits, including a reduced risk of developing certain cancers, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, and arthritis, and exercise improves hypertension, high cholesterol, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, 70% of American adults live a sedentary lifestyle. The current study evaluated a behavior analytic treatment to increase exercise in people who were normal-weight, overweight, and obese. This study was innovative and utilized a variety of empirically validated methods to establish and maintain exercise behavior, which may replace more sedentary behavior. These methods included: self-monitoring, goal setting, correspondence training, social support systems, stimulus control, shaping, and relapse prevention. The program introduced a variety of independent variables simultaneously, assessed multiple dependent variables related to exercise, and directly measured indicators of improved health. Results indicated that there was a statistically significant increase between pre-intervention and post-intervention levels of exercise duration, frequency, and intensity, and there was a statistically significant decrease in interresponse time between workouts following implementation of the program. Participants also increased the variety of exercise, experienced improvements in health, and demonstrated increased strength and endurance. The current study adds to the literature regarding effective treatments for sedentary living.

This study used video feedback to enhance the martial arts performance of capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art that utilizes acrobatic movements (revesado, au de costa, and macaco). A multiple baseline across behaviors was used for 5 participants. Baseline conditions consisted of standard coaching that continued throughout all phases of the study. The intervention consisted of video feedback, in which the participants were filmed attempting a movement and immediately viewed the video afterwards, while receiving positive and corrective feedback from the instructor, using the pause, slow motion, and replay controls. The target behaviors were scored on a 15-item checklist, resulting in a percentage correct. A second video feedback condition similar to the first was also introduced to some participants, in which participants were able to practice the movements with live feedback before being filmed again. Results show an increase in the performance of the skills for each target behavior during the video feedback conditions.

Between 10-15% of individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities engage in self-injurious behavior ([SIB]; Kahng, Hausman, & Jann, 2011). Functional analyses are generally effective in identifying variables that maintain SIB (Iwata et al., 1994), which ultimately results in more effective interventions. Although functional analyses are highly effective at identifying the function of problem behavior, recent discussions have questioned its safety (Weeden, Mahoney, & Poling, 2010). It is unknown if functional analyses place individuals at risk of injury given that it is necessary to expose the individual to situations that may evoke SIB. Currently, there are no known estimates of the incidence of injury to individuals during the assessment process. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the frequency, type, and severity of injuries that occurred during the functional analysis of SIB. Preliminary data from six participants suggest that no injuries occurred during the functional analysis; however, 10 injuries were reported on the living unit during the same time period. These preliminary data suggest that, with adequate safety precautions in place, functional analyses may not place individuals at a greater risk of injury than exists in a typical living environment.

Functional assessment (FA) increasingly is recognized as best practice for students with behavioral challenges in schools. Although empirical studies using FA continue to be conducted primarily in clinical settings, studies documenting the use of FA in schools are increasing. This is important as school-based researchers and practitioners look to the literature to guide their practice. In this paper we present results of a review of the school-based FA literature. We reviewed only studies in which (1) the FA was conducted in a school, (2) data documenting results of the FA for individual students was available, and (3) the publication was peer-reviewed. Published studies between 1994 and 2010 were included. A total of 185 studies were identified, of those, 95 met inclusion criteria. Results will be presented documenting key features including population, target response, type of FA, hypothesized environment-behavior relations, whether an intervention was conducted, intervention components and link to operant function, whether the intervention was deemed effective and if functional control was established, and if generalization and/or maintenance were documented. We also documented whether fidelity was assessed. Results will be discussed in terms of current practice in school-based FA and implications for the field.

Experienced behavior analysts remotely coached parents to conduct functional analyses (FA) of problem behavior exhibited by their children using telehealth. We will be presenting data on 20 parent completed FAs. Participants were children who were 6-years-old or younger, had diagnosed autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and displayed problem behavior. Participating families went to a local Child Health Specialty Clinic (CHSC) room with teleconferencing equipment to be connected remotely to a teleconsultation center at a tertiary level hospital. a behavior consultant at the Center for Disabilities and Development at University of Iowa - Hospitals and Clinics (CDD) guided the parents on how to conduct a functional analysis. Participants lived an average of 15 miles from the local CHSC and an average of 222 miles from the CDD. All sessions were conducted by parents during weekly, one hour visits, with an average of 3.8 FA sessions per visit and an average of 4.8 visits per FA. Functional analyses were completed within a multielement design. A social function for problem behavior was identified for 18 of the 20 participants. Interrater agreement was assessed across approximately 30% of sessions and averaged over 90%. Results will be discussed in terms of challenges, safety, and next steps.

Contingency management is efficacious in promoting desirable behavior change across a variety of behavior. The treatment strategy has also been used as a tool to help isolate the effects of a number of variables on behavior change. This symposium highlights3 unique studies in which contingency management is used to incentivize healthy choices and dissociate the effects of several independent and predictor variables on treatment outcomes. The first paper examines the effects of incentive type and treatment fidelity on outcome measures in a contingency management program designed to increase children's fruit and vegetable consumption. The second paper examines whether patterns of voucher reimbursement predict treatment success in a contingency management program to promote abstinence among pregnant smokers. The third paper investigates the effects of percentile schedules on the number of steps taken per day in a prize-based contingency management program designed to increase physical activity among healthy adults. These studies demonstrate that contingency management is a promising treatment model for applications designed to promote a diverse group of healthy behaviors and for laboratory investigations of the effects of various independent variables on treatment outcomes.

In contingency management (CM) objectively verified target behaviors are reinforced with vouchers that can be redeemed for goods or services. One use of this treatment approach has been to encourage pregnant smokers to abstain during their pregnancy. The voucher redemption records of 174 pregnant women enrolled in a voucher-based smoking cessation treatment were examined to see if patterns of voucher redemption or other measures of impulsivity (e.g. delay discounting, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale) could predict treatment success. Women were classified as high (n=71) or low (n=103) abstinence based on whether greater than or fewer than 50% of their urine samples during the course of their treatment were cotinine negative. Frequency of redemption between high and low abstinence groups did not differ significantly. However, significant differences were found between the groups when examining the percentage of earnings that had been spent at different time points in treatment. Voucher redemption patterns may serve as a naturalistic measure of impulsivity in this population.

The CDC (2010) recommends that adults engage in a minimum two hours of intense activity per week. Research shows a positive relationship between physical activity and overall health, but most Americans are not physically active. Hindrances to working out include unrealistic expectations and physical discomfort or pain. The current study incentivizes increases in physical activity. Healthy adults were recruited to wear a Fitbit computerized pedometer for up to six weeks. During a baseline period, steps per day were measured, prize draws were earned for wearing the Fitbit. Prizes varied in value from $2 to $150, with a 50% probability of winning each draw. During an intervention phase, daily criterion for draws was set at a percentile of recent steps. Criterion required current steps exceed 4, 5 or 6 of the previous 7 days steps. Finally, a return to baseline required only wearing the Fitbit to earn draws. Preliminary results show significant increases in steps in half of the participants, with those individuals with the lowest baseline rates of stepping showing the greatest increases during intervention.

Applied behavior-analytic interventions have been rarely implemented concurrently with neurophysiological dependent variables in genetic syndromes. This approach may help to identify learning-dependent plasticity mechanisms mobilized by treatment procedures, or to isolate patterns of neurophysiological activity that are specific to operant processes. From a conceptual standpoint, behavior analysis may be a more suitable interphase between socially significant behavior and neuroscientific research (as opposed to cognitive psychology) owed to its parsimony, focus on observable responses and use of experimental methods. Behavioral methods may also be useful to establish disease-specific behavioral characteristics of genetic syndromes. Finally, cross-disciplinary applied research may impact favorably the biological plausibility and facial validity of behavior-analytic interventions to broader scientific audiences. During this symposium authors will present a series of empirical studies illustrating the potential of applied behavior analysis to inform gene-brain-behavior relations. Virues-Ortega et al. will describe a study on the neurophysiological correlates of behavioral acquisition in autism. Hammond et al. will present a study examining the environmental factors and neurophysiological correlates of problem behavior in Prader-Willi syndrome. Finally, Caruso-Anderson et al. will discuss a study on the distinctive behavioral characteristics of individuals with autism and Fragile X syndrome in terms of their preference toward social stimuli. Dr. Schaal, one of the few behavior analysts that have develop a research career in the field of neuroscience, will serve as discussant.

Recent studies have examined the neurocircuitry recruitment of reinforced behavior during maintenance using fMRI with children with autism. However, there is a dearth of fMRI studies in autism addressing brain plasticity in relation to behavioral acquisition. This approach may help to identify early courses of the intervention and learning-dependent plasticity mechanisms underlying the effects of treatment. In the present study we focused on the acquisition of generalized motor imitation (GMM) through applied operant procedures. Several factors make generalized imitation an interesting repertoire from a neurophysiological perspective: (1) imitation has been associated with the mirror neuron system, a key component of differential neurophysiological functioning in autism; (2) there are effective fMRI control tasks for imitation available in the literature; and (3) fMRI studies have identified altered brain activation in untrained individuals with autism when confronted with imitative tasks. Participants underwent a multiple exemplar procedure in order to perform GMM at a mastery level. fMRI scans were conducted before an after the GMM procedure was implemented. Control tasks during the scanning procedure allowed to tear out brain activity associated with the motor, perceptual, and simple imitation components of the target task.

Approximately 60% to 80% of individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) engage in self-injurious behavior typically in the form of skin picking a prevalence rate that is considerably higher than that reported in the general developmental disability population. Our understanding of the factors that give rise to and maintain skin picking in this population, however, is extremely limited. In this study, we used functional analysis and brain imaging methodology (fMRI: subtraction method) to identify the potential environmental and biological variables maintaining skin picking in 10 individuals diagnosed with PWS. Results showed that (a) PWS participants exhibited increased rates of skin picking under non social conditions of the functional analysis; (b) physiological activity (pulse and respiration) recorded in the scanner was correlated with skin-picking episodes; and (c) participants with PWS showed atypical brain activation in the pain-reward network during skin-picking episodes. Taken together, this study provides one of the first interdisciplinary accounts combining techniques common to applied behavior analysis and neuroscience of the conditions under which skin picking occurs in PWS, as well as delineating the specific mechanisms involved in this highly prevalent phenotypic disorder.

Behavior-analytic methods are rarely use to identify disease-specific behavioral characteristics of genetic syndromes. In this study we examine the preference toward social stimuli of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and Fragile X syndrome (FXS). Despite the presence of social withdrawal behavior and debilitating deficits in social interaction skills, no studies have examined preferences for social interaction in these populations. The purpose of this study was to determine relative preference for social interaction by the amount of time children with ASD and FXS and their typically developing peers allocated to social and non-social stimuli when both were available simultaneously. A brief preference assessment was conducted to identify preferred toys. The experimental room was divided into three areas. In one area, preferred toys were available for solitary play. In a second area, the same toys were available and an experimenter provided social interaction. The third area was a control condition and contained neither social stimuli nor toys. At the beginning of each trial, participants sampled the contingency in effect in each area and were told they could change areas freely. Results will be discussed in terms of amount of time allocated to social versus non-social conditions.

Individuals who have been diagnosed with developmental disabilities often engage in a variety of problem behaviors. Often, families resort to medication to treat such behaviors and frequently believe that behavior may be decreased through the implementation of drug therapy. The research has indicated that both functional and descriptive analysis can be helpful in identifying functions of behaviors which can lead to more effective behavioral treatments. However, when medication is regularly titrated it is possible for the functions of behavior to change. Consequently, this could inhibit less restrictive treatments. Research on the effects of drug therapy and alternative restrictive methodologies will be discussed and implications of future research will be identified.

The effect of drug therapy on aggressive behaviors has been evaluated in multiple studies. It has been demonstrated that when medications are introduced during assessment they can alter the functions of behavior. This alteration may result in incorrect function based interventions. The results of both a descriptive analysis and functional analysis of severe aggression and self injurious behavior in an adult with autism and an intellectual disability concluded that behavior was maintained by negative reinforcement in the form of escape from demands and by positive reinforcement in the form access to a restraint. The present study examines the effects of drug therapy on a variety of function based interventions. Results suggest that when medication is provided inconsistently, functions of behaviors may be altered. Consequently, incorrect function based interventions necessitated the use of more restrictive procedures to reduce severe behavior.

Studies have shown that the function of physical aggression in certain individuals may be to gain access to physical restraint in order to meet a sensory function. In most cases, staff must restrain these individuals to maintain the safety of the person and others in their environment. The results of both a descriptive analysis and functional analysis of severe aggression and self injurious behavior in an adult with autism and an intellectual disability concluded that behavior was maintained by negative reinforcement in the form of escape from demands and by positive reinforcement in the form access to a restraint. The present study evaluates the use of an unorthodox restrictive procedure that makes it possible to secure an aggressive individuals behavior while extinguishing sensory reinforcement. This resulted in decreased occurrences and duration of episodes of aggressive behavior, while minimizing risks of injury to staff in spite of multiple medication changes.

Parents with children who have been recently diagnosed with autism tend to be eager to try many different treatments to better the chances of their children having an easier future. During early intervention, parents can become disenchanted with slow or subtle progress and will lean towards the resources western culture has established as effective. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of drug therapy combined with positive behavioral supports with alternative restrictive procedures on severe self injurious behavior. The results of a functional assessment were inconclusive at identifying a function. While medications continued to be unstable, the subject was able to make gains in certain developmental domains while using persistent positive behavioral supports and alternative restrictive procedures. This demonstrates that despite regular titration of medication, behavioral therapy reliably produced positive gains.

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) is widely regarded as the gold standard of treatment for children with ASD (autism spectrum disorders). While EIBI may rightly be regarded an effective treatment for individuals who have ASD, it may also be regarded as effective for children who have diverse conditions, such as intellectual disabilities, Down syndrome, and seizures during premature infancy. This data-based symposium will review how effective EIBI techniques were for each of these particular conditions. Possible reasons for differences in outcome and the general effectiveness of intervention are discussed. The first paper, by Sigmund Eldevik (Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences), will review the literature on the effectiveness of EIBI for children with intellectual disability compared to children with ASD. Second, Emily Jones, (Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA) will present several experiments in which behavior analytic interventions were successfully used to enhance communication skills in young children with Down syndrome. Third, John C. Neill (Long Island University, USA) will present an animal model of seizures during premature infancy and explain how EIBI increases striatal dopamine receptor density. Ronald Weisman (Queens University, Canada) will serve as the discussant.

We have reviewed the literature on Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) and compared outcome on intelligence and adaptive behavior for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with intellectual disabilities (ID). Average gains in IQ and ABC scores and effect size measures are compared and also contrasted with outcome for children with ASD and ID not receiving EIBI.Possible reasons for differences in outcome and the general effectiveness of intervention are discussed.

The application of behavior analytic interventions to address characteristic weaknesses of infants and toddlers with Down syndrome shows promise in meeting the needs of this young population and maximizing outcomes. Demonstrations of interventions to address several communication skills provides support for exploring other areas such as early escape/avoidance behavior and weaknesses in exploratory motor skills and short-term memory.

Premature infants are at high risk of seizures which can produce intellectual impairment (Glass, 2009, Table 1). In an animal (rat) model of premature infancy, seizures during postnatal days 6–11 impaired auditory stimulus control, decreased exploratory behaviors, and, increased the number of reinforcers to criterion for lever pressing. Late in adulthood, non-seizure animals that received intensive behavioral intervention had more dopamine D2 receptors in the striatum than normal animals that had no early training. Seizure animals had less D2 receptors than nonseizure control animals. Seizure animals that had early intervention had more D2 receptors than seizure animals that had no early training. Early seizures caused deficits in dopamine D2 receptor density; this deficit was somewhat ameliorated by early intensive behavioral intervention. Elderly seizure animals that had early intervention performed better than elderly nontreated seizure animals on an auditory stimulus control task. These results will be related to mother-infant interactions during breast feeding, when even a small series of brief seizures are potentially capable of causing lasting behavioral and brain impairments. Experimentally-validated early intensive behavioral intervention techniques for premature human infants will be explained.

An inability to inhibit responses and failure to sustain attention are key aspects of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Symposium will include3 data-based presentations using mouse, rat, and human participants. Presentations will focus on different behavioral models that can be used to examine response inhibition (a Go/No-go task, differential reinforcement of low rate [DRL] schedules, fixed minimum interval [FMI] schedules) and attention (reaction time to Go signals, failures to maintain responding). For each task, its ability to assess the specific psychological construct (response inhibition or attention) will be evaluated and data from environmental, pharmacological and genetic manipulations that are expected to affect inhibition and attention will be presented. The discussant, Joel Nigg, who is an expert in ADHD research, will examine the data and models in the light of human research in ADHD as well as the utility of such behavioral models in treatment development and the identification of factors causally related to the etiology of the disorder.

The study examined whether administration of methamphetamine (MA) would result in different levels of inhibition in animals selected to consume or respond more to MA. A Go/No-go task was used to assess inhibition in male and female mice selected for low or high levels of MA consumption [MALDR and MAHDR] or selected for low or high levels of locomotor sensitization to repeated injections of MA [MAHSENS and MALSENS]. Mice selected for MA consumption did not differ in drug-nave levels of inhibition (responding during the No-go signal [false alarms]). However, mice selected for low levels of sensitization displayed lower levels of inhibition than mice selected for high levels, but also lower levels of responding in general. When MA was administered prior to the task, inhibition improved for both sets of mice. However, simultaneous reductions in responding during the Go signal [hits] suggest that these reductions in inhibition reflected reduced levels of operant responding or motivation, and highlight the complications associated with interpreting responding during a Go/No-go task. Together, the data suggest a shared genetic component between inhibition processes, general levels of operant responding and MA sensitization.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) involves a chronic impairment in the ability to withhold reinforced responses. A straightforward method to assess such ability in animal models consists of reinforcing a response contingent on withholding it for a fixed time interval. This method is typically instantiated as a differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) schedule of reinforcement. In DRL, a response is reinforced only after not emitting it for a minimum time. As a response-inhibition assessment method, DRL has two drawbacks: (1) it elicits response bursts that are not readily interpretable and are confounded with contingency-sensitive interresponse times (IRTs), and (2) it precludes the dissociation of the prepotency of the reinforced response from the capacity to withhold that response. Both drawbacks are corrected by the topographical separation of the responses that delimit each IRT. This correction is Mechner and Guevrekians (1962) fixed minimum interval (FMI) schedule of reinforcement. The utility of FMI as a response-inhibition assessment technique is demonstrated in a series of studies in rats and pigeons. These studies describe the sensitivity of various constituents of FMI performance to rate of reinforcement, reinforcer magnitude, chronic stress, housing conditions, rat strain (an animal model of ADHD vs. its normoactive control), and methylphenidate.

"Lapses in attention" are a fundamental symptom of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We have developed a simple non parametric procedure which uses simple reaction time (RT) procedures to quantitatively characterize "lapses of attention." The mode of the distribution of reaction times (RTs) is used to estimate the speed at which the subject is capable of responding, and the mean deviation of the RTs from the mode is used to identify lapses of attention. A larger number of lapses of attention results in a greater rightward skew of the distribution, as well as a larger deviation of the RTs from the mode (DevMode). We have completed a series of studies in which we have used this procedure to characterize lapses of attention in mice, rats and children with ADHD.

As an extension of Boren, Moerschbaecher, & Whyte, (1978), Experiment 1 was a comparison of schedules of reinforcement on location variability. Hens worked in an operant chamber across five keys that were arranged horizontally. A peck to any key was equally effective. Interval schedules were yoked to ratio schedules. Eight schedules were examined: FR 40, FR 10, FI y-40, FI y-10, VR 40, VR 10, VI y-40 and VI y-10. Location variability was measured as the percentage of switching across keys from within trials, between trials (the reinforced peck location to the first peck location of the following trial), and the number of keys used. It was hypothesised that more variation would occur from schedules with large inter-reinforcer-intervals rather than short, and also that interval schedules would result in more variations than ratio schedules. Hypotheses were not up held, however a correlation of response rate and variability was found. In Experiment 2, six new hens worked on a series of (across session) incrementing DRL schedules, from DRL 0.5-sec to DRL 19.2-sec. Results found no correlation of response rate and variability. However, far more within trial switches were observed in Experiment 2 than Experiment 1, suggesting need for further study.

The independence of dimensions of operant responses by humans was investigated in two experiments using a computerized rectangle drawing task from Ross and Neuringer (2002). Variability on the dimensions of area, shape and location was required for reinforcement for one group (VAR); and variability was not required for the other (YOKE). For all three dimensions, U-values, a measure of variability, were higher for the VAR group than for YOKE group; and the number of trials that met the criteria for reinforcement was higher for the VAR group than for the YOKE group. In Experiment 2, reinforcement was contingent on variability on two dimensions regardless of variability on the third. Participants were divided into three groups; each group had one dimension that was not required to vary. U-values were higher for dimensions when reinforcement was contingent on varying shape and location, or area and location. However, U-values did not differ significantly across dimensions when reinforcement was contingent on varying just area and shape. The results of Experiment 1 and 2 are broadly consistent with those of Ross and Neuringer (2002). The importance of orthogonality of dimensions on this task will be discussed.

Previous research shows that reinforcement of variable responding will facilitate sequence learning in rats (Neuringer, Deiss & Olson, 2000) but may interfere with sequence learning in humans (Maes & van der Goot, 2006). The present study aimed to replicate and extend previous research by assessing the role of behavioral variability in the learning of difficult target sequences across 3 species: humans (n = 60), hens (n = 18) and possums (n = 6). Participants were randomly allocated to one of three experimental conditions (Control, Variable, Any). In the Control conditions sequences were only reinforced if they were the target sequence, in the Variability conditions sequences were concurrently reinforced on a Variable Interval 60-s schedule if the just entered sequence met a variability criterion, and in the Any condition sequences were concurrently reinforced on a Variable Interval 60-s schedule for any sequence entered. The results support previous findings with animals and humans; hens and possums were more likely to learn the target sequence in the Variability condition, and human participants were more likely to learn the target sequence in the Control condition. Possible explanations for differences between the performance of humans and animals on this task will be discussed.

The Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Special Interest Group is honored to recognize Dr. Howard Rachlin. Dr. Rachlins pioneering research on intertemporal choice has integrated behavior analysis, experimental economics, and judgment and decision making. His research on delay discounting has informed translational research assessing the role discounting plays in the etiology of impulse control disorders such as substance abuse, gambling, and other addictions. Recently, Dr. Rachlin has extended his research program into social domains. The focus of Dr. Rachlins address will be on the effects of real versus hypothetical outcomes on choice in an iterated Prisoners Dilemma game and on altruistic behavior in a social discounting task. Dr. Rachlin is joined in this symposium by colleagues who have been inspired by him and his work. Dr. Matthew L. Locey will present research on the role of temporal discounting and magnitude of social benefit on behavior in a Prisoners Dilemma game. Dr. Leonard Green will present a paper, co-authored with Dr. Joel Myerson, discussing the relationship between delay and probability discounting of real and hypothetical outcomes. Dr. Eric A. Jacobs will serve as discussant for the session and will present the award. Please join us in celebrating the many achievements of Dr. Howard Rachlin.

In a Prisoner's Dilemma Game (PDG), cooperation benefits the group but is costly to the individual (relative to defection). On the surface, these contingencies appear to favor defection over cooperation. A deeper analysis that considers delay and social discounting might help to explain why anyone might choose to cooperate in such a context. In Experiment 1 participants played a PDG against a computer with perfect reciprocation (tit-for-tat). The tit-for-tat contingency could potentially reinforce the participants cooperation (by computer-cooperation) and punish the participants defection (by computer-defection). The delay from participant-choice to computer-choice was manipulated. Consistent with delay discounting, more cooperation was found with shorter delays than with longer delays. Experiment 2 opposed the personal benefit from defection to the socially discounted benefit to others from cooperation. In Phase 1 the social benefit of cooperating was varied by the number of other players. In Phase 2 the social benefit of cooperating was varied by the amount of money earned by the other player. In both phases, more participants cooperated when the social benefit of doing so was high than when it was low.

Laboratory studies of choice and decision making among real monetary rewards typically use smaller real rewards than those common in real life. When laboratory rewards are large, they are almost always hypothetical. In applying laboratory results meaningfully to real-life situations, it is important to know the extent to which choices among hypothetical rewards correspond to choices among real rewards and whether variation of the magnitude of hypothetical rewards affects behavior in meaningful ways. The present study compared real and hypothetical monetary rewards in two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants played a temporal discounting game that incorporates the logic of a repeated prisoners-dilemma (PD) type game versus tit-for-tat; choice of one alternative (defection in PD terminology) resulted in a small-immediate reward; choice of the other alternative (cooperation in PD terminology) resulted in a larger reward delayed until the following trial. The larger-delayed reward was greater for half of the groups than for the other half. Rewards also differed in type across groups: multiples of real nickels, hypothetical nickels or hypothetical hundred-dollar bills. All groups significantly increased choice of the larger delayed reward over the 40 trials of the experiment. Over the last 10 trials, cooperation was significantly higher when the difference between larger and smaller hypothetical rewards was greater. Reward type (real or hypothetical) made no significant difference in cooperation. In Experiment 2, real and hypothetical rewards were compared in social discounting the decrease in value to the giver of a reward as social distance increases to the receiver of the reward. Social discount rates were well described by a hyperbolic function. Discounting rates for real and hypothetical rewards did not significantly differ. These results add to the evidence that results of experiments with hypothetical rewards validly apply in everyday life.

In this series of presentations, one study investigating variables affecting choice and two studies exploring variables affecting resurgence of previously extinguished behavior, will be presented with an interest in better understanding two phenomena relevant to applied settings. Patrick Romani (University of Iowa) will present a behavioral economic analysis of the effects of unit price on choice when providing the opportunity to choose work in order to earn preferred reinforcers to participants referred for noncompliance with academic tasks. Kathryn Kestner (Western Michigan University) will present a nonhuman laboratory assessment of a potential method for reducing unwanted resurgence. This study looked at the effects of superimposing a punishment schedule on a differential reinforcement of alternative behavior procedure on resurgence of the target response when the alternative behavior was put on extinction. Ryan Redner (Western Michigan University) will present data from an investigation exploring the conditions under which punishment-induced resurgence may occur. Jennifer McComas as the discussant will provide a general summary of the findings of these studies, as well as reactions regarding potential implications and areas for future research. The implications for applied research and practice as well as further translational work will be a main focus.

The current study investigated the use of unit price (UP) to evaluate two childrens preference for attention, tangible items, and escape from demands (Participant 2 only). Participants were referred to a behavioral outpatient clinic to address noncompliance with academic demands. Interobserver agreement was calculated across 30% of all sessions and averaged 100%. During Phase One, each participants preference for reinforcers was evaluated under low response requirements. In a concurrent operants design, each participant was presented with academic work and preference for the previously mentioned reinforcers was evaluated under a UP of 1. During Phase Two, in a concurrent operants design, the UP for the most preferred reinforcer was systematically increased, while the concurrently available reinforcers remained at a UP of 1. Results identified two patterns of responding. Participant 1s choices between reinforcers were influenced by UP. Preference for either reinforcer was not sufficiently motivating to compete with increasing task requirements. Participant 2 chose to complete work until a UP of 2. Preference for attention competed with concurrently available reinforcers at a lower UP. These findings suggest that evaluating preferences for reinforcers under different schedule requirements may be an efficient strategy for developing behavioral interventions in settings such as outpatient clinics.

Research within the area of applied behavior analysis has spanned the gamut from teaching the most basic functional skills to individuals with severe disabilities to teaching typically developing children to be more creative in their responses to academic or functional problems. In both of these areas, the individual encounters a problem that must be solved. However, a ready solution is not apparent. The individual must then choose between known responses to determine what will work, or the individual may have to create a response in order to solve the problem. Because there is not always one correct answer to every situation, training these skills can be complicated. In this symposium,4 studies will be presented. First, a review of behavioral literature will be presented pertaining to problem solving and creativity. In this presentation, the history and trajectory of the literature will be examined and areas of future research will be suggested. Second, starting at the more basic end of the continuum will be a presentation on a research study in which individuals with developmental disabilities will be taught to solve problems while completing independent living and vocational tasks. These individuals will be taught a finite series of responses to choose from in order to solve the problems encountered. The third presentation will extend problem solving into the realm of what is typically deemed creativity. In this presentation, elementary age children will use various materials to represent fractions during a math lesson. Children who can already identify fractions will be asked to take various materials, such as clay, marbles, or water, and divide these materials into sections in order to show the correct fraction. The fourth presentation will extend creativity to functional problems. In this study, preschool children will be presented with a task, but will not be given the correct tool to complete the task. These children will have to substitute materials for the tools or even combine materials to make a suitable tool. Overall, this symposium will focus on the topics of problem solving and creativity.

While much of the behavioral literature has to do with teaching what is considered functional or academic skills, concepts such as creativity or problem-solving have not been overlooked. Winston and Baker (1985) wrote a critical review of the creativity literature available at that time. They reviewed twenty studies and discovered several patterns. First, they found that behavior analytic methods did produce increased creativity. However, creativity was defined and measured in a widely variable manner across studies. This prevents a clear line of research on the topic. Also, there is still controversy about whether reinforcement of creativity will actually decrease creativity in the future. Finally, the available research does not allow for a detailed analysis of what normally goes on when we engage in creative activity (p. 203). This presentation will update this review of literature. The behavior analytic literature on creativity and problem-solving will be reviewed to determine whether progress has been achieved in recent years. This review will also result in recommendations for future research in this area.

One skill area with critical implications for the successful transition from school to post-school activities for individuals with disabilities is problem-solving. Salzberg, Lignugaris/Kraft, and McCuller (1988) identify skill deficiencies related to problem-solving as reasons for job termination. These deficiencies also have ramifications for independent-living. While problem-solving skills appear to be a critical skill area for individuals with developmental disabilities, there has been little research on how best to promote social or functional problem-solving skills with this population (Agran, Blanchard, Wehmeyer, and Hughes, 2002). Problem-solving requires a range of not only discriminations, but also responses. To sweep a room, besides a missing broom there could also be water on the floor, the broom could be defective (e.g., straw missing), a door locked blocking access to the room, or the dustpan is gone. Moreover, each of these situations requires a topographically different response such as asking for assistance, finding the broom or dustpan, or getting the mop. In this presentation, a study will be described in which individuals with developmental disabilities are asked to complete vocational or independent living skills. However, each task will contain a problem (e.g. missing item). The individuals will be taught to use a picture prompt system in order to attempt a sequence of solution responses beginning with the least intrusive (look for the missing item) to the most intrusive (ask someone for help). Individuals will attempt the least intrusive first and only proceed to the more intrusive options upon failure to solve the problem. Participants include individuals with autism who are served in life skill classrooms and whose Individual Education Program (IEP) contains a goal pertaining to independent living or vocational skills. This study will show whether the use of picture prompts is an efficient method for teaching problem-solving skills to this population. See the attached Table for baseline data on one individual for a floor sweeping task.

Creativity can be demonstrated by increasing the diversity of behaviors. Goetz and Baer (1973) increased the diversity of forms in blockbuilding for preschool girls. In this study the girls played with blocks and the observers recorded the numbers of new forms constructed with the blocks. During baseline few new forms were demonstrated. However, the number of new forms increased once reinforcement was made contingent on producing new forms. The current study will explore a different kind of form diversity. In this study, elementary age children in a math class will use various materials to represent fractions. For example, a child will divide a ball of clay into four equal sections and indicate that one section is equal to one fourth. These children will have already learned to identify fractions using typical materials (e.g. pie form and blocks). The children will be expected to use available materials to create new ways to represent each fraction. Each new material used appropriately will result in social reinforcement the first time it is used. If the child fails to produce new forms, training will begin. During training, representation of fractions using new materials will be modeled. Materials used during training will not include those used during test trials. This study will show whether diversity of fraction representation can be increased with reinforcement or whether a modeling intervention is necessary. See the attached table for baseline data for Participant 1.

Another form of creativity can be demonstrated through improvisation. In 1978, Parsonson and Baer published a study in which preschool children were trained to generalize improvisation of tools. These children were presented with a variety of tasks such as pounding a wooden peg, carrying marbles in a container, and tying a shoe. However, the most obvious tool was not available in each situation. The children had to use other objects in order to complete these tasks. In some cases the children were able to use single objects such as using a hat turned upside down in order to carry the marbles. The children could also create complex improvisations by combining available materials such as combining a cotton spool with a long rod in order to make a tool capable of pounding the wooden peg into the bench. However, in this study the methods required intensive individualized training. The authors suggest that in order to develop effective classroom curricula it will be necessary to devise efficient programs that would establish widely generalized problem-solving skills applicable to a variety of problems in a variety of contexts (p.380). The current study replicates many of the procedures used by Parsonson and Baer. However, the training is conducted in a group setting. The purpose of this study is to begin to develop an efficient program that could be implemented in typical preschool settings. Preschool children without identified disabilities will be asked to complete a task, but will not be given the correct tool. After the child has ceased to show new forms of improvisation, a new form of improvisation will be demonstrated to the class as a whole group. Demonstration materials will not be the same as those available during test probes. Training will continue each day until the children either attempt every possible improvisation or ten demonstrations are complete. This presentation will include the results of this study and will begin to reveal whether the type of training used in Parsonson and Baer can be adapted to fit a group instruction model. See baseline data in the attached Table for Participants 1 and 2.

Precision teaching (PT) is an instructional application of behavior analysis. PT utilizes the standard celeration chart to closely monitor and analyze changes in behavior. The use of this dynamic measurement tool, coupled with the principles of behavior, has led to an enhanced understanding of many complex behaviors and their necessary components. Furthermore, PT offers a highly effective and efficient means of teaching these complex behaviors. This panel includes 4 notable behavior analysts who have worked extensively in the area of precision teaching. The panelists will discuss their personal accounts of becoming experts in the area. They will discuss the progress that has been made and limitations that have been encountered in PT. Finally, panelists will answer audience questions and provide recommendations to those interested in working or conducting research in precision teaching.

To ensure that a treatment program will result in socially significant changes in behavior, the specific variables that influence the efficacy of the behavior change procedure must be identified and subsequently included in the treatment program. In this symposium the presenters will discuss how the level of treatment integrity, methodological differences in punishment procedures, level of task difficulty, and number of options presented in a choice situation can affect the efficacy of and/or preference for behavior change procedures. The effect of differential reinforcement implemented with varying levels of treatment integrity on compliance levels of young children was assessed in the first study. In the second study, the effect of response interruption and redirection (RIRD) and response blocking on stereotypic responding in three children diagnosed with autism was compared. In addition, child preference for the two treatments was assessed. In the third investigation, the influence of task difficulty on child preference for fluent and disfluent work schedules was assessed with young children. To extend the literature on preference for situations in which choice is available, child preference for quantitatively differing options from which to choose was assessed with young children in the final study.

Both response interruption and redirection (RIRD) and response blocking have been demonstrated to effectively reduce stereotypy maintained by automatic reinforcement. When presented with multiple treatment alternatives, it may be beneficial for clinicians to identify the client's preference for treatment. This may be difficult for clients who cannot accurately describe their preference. In these circumstances, concurrent chain procedures may be used to evaluate participant preference. The current study evaluated the effects of RIRD and response blocking on the stereotypic responding of three elementary-age children diagnosed with autism. During the treatment evaluation, RIRD and response blocking were evaluated using an alternating treatment and reversal design. Following treatment evaluation, a concurrent chain preference assessment was conducted to evaluate participant preference for RIRD or response blocking. Both RIRD and response blocking resulted in comparably low levels of motor stereotypy and all three participants preferred RIRD. The implications of these findings for treating behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement will be discussed.

A concurrent-chains arrangement was used to identify child preference for the temporal distribution of work and reward delivery within fluent and disfluent work schedule arrangements with four typically developing preschool children. The effects of task difficulty on preference for the work schedule arrangement was assessed by alternating two task assessments (i.e., easy and difficult) in a reversal design. Although the effects of task difficulty were unclear, differentiated choice responding was evident between work schedule arrangements. Two participants showed exclusive preference for the fluent work schedule arrangement; one participant showed a preference for the disfluent work schedule arrangement; and one participants preference was unclear.

Studies on choice have shown that both human and nonhumans prefer situations in which they can choose over those in which they cannot. However, the extent to which the number of available options influences preference for choice has not been thoroughly addressed in the behavioral literature. The current study assessed preschool childrens preference for differing numbers of options. A concurrent-chains arrangement was used to assess preference for three bin options: 0 toys (A), 6 toys (B), and 30 toys (C; five identical sets of Bin B toys). Initial-link selections resulted in 2-min access to the contents of the bin in the terminal link. Participants were first exposed to forced-choice trials with each of the three bins. Next, participants were allowed to select a bin during free-choice trials. Data were collected on initial-link selection, as well as latency to select toys, frequency of switching toys, and duration with first selected toy. Current results indicate preference for fewer options. Implications are discussed in terms of a behavioral economics model for the social psychology concepts of choice overload and buyers remorse, as well as a framework for whychosen architecture can serve as an antecedent intervention for problem behavior.

In Italy more than the 90% of production sites are Small and Medium sized Enterprises. Its difficult for a small reality to join a standard B-BS implementation; therefore, a group of Italian behavior analyst and B-BS experts developed a specific reduced protocol for SMEs and for small parts of big plants: BASE Behavior Analysis for Safety Enhencement. A.A.R.B.A. and the Polytechnic of Milan started a scientific research to find out the validity and effectiveness of this protocol, obtaining the reduction of at-risk behaviors with contextual increase of safe behaviors. The trial has been started in a 15 workers production department, isolated from the main plant of a producer of industrial boilers. After the baseline evaluation and the implementation of the process, we started with the observation and reinforcement of workers behaviors. In two-four weeks from the observation process start-up we obtained a improvement of safe behaviors for which we set improvement targets (for example: always wear the respiratory protection and order in the workplace). We also saw how the culture and values of safety was deeply rooted in the group of workers of that small department, in fact all the employees of other department that was temporarily assigned in that department have quickly changed their original unsafe behaviour, exhibiting the same safe behaviors of colleagues.

Behavior based safety (BBS) is known to be one of the most effective and efficient practices for improving workplace safety and health. 40 years worth of research and applied success has clearly demonstrated the impact of this approach. Unfortunately, early applications of BBS resulted in the creation of cultures of blame, rather than the relentless focus on the application of appreciative feedback for observed safe behaviors. This use of blame and punishment resulted in many schools of opinion being established that foundationally oppose BBS. The application of reinforcement, and specifically appreciative feedback, in a safety management system, anchors the cornerstone of many highly successful safety process. Unfortunately, the opposition to BBS that continues today is as robust as it was in the past. Spearheading this opposition are safety professionals with different philosophies about safety, consultants with competing methodologies, and some labor organizations. This paper will present a response to the particular and specific criticisms of behavior based safety can be provided. Experts from both academia and industry will present responses to specific published works that criticize behavior based safety. Those who present opinions in opposition to behavior based safety will also be invited to present. The objective of this paper is to establish and present a coherent and scientifically sound response to the critics of behavior based safety. Controlled research that demonstrates the impact that feedback has on discretionary effort will be presented and case studies will be reviewed.

To date, no research has outlined a procedure that capitalizes on the strengths of both traditional (Iwata et al., 1982/1994) and trial-based (Bloom et al., 2011) functional analyses (FA) at an organization-wide level. In Study 1 we replicated Iwata et al. (2000) by training 14 group-home employees to conduct a traditional FA in less than two hours. All subjects had no prior experience conducting FAs. Ten subjects were clinical supervisors with masters degrees in various fields and varying levels of formal exposure to applied behavior analysis (ABA) and four subjects were undergraduate assistants with no formal exposure to ABA. In Study 2 we used a pyramidal training procedure to train clinical supervisors (from Study 1) to conduct and train their house managers to conduct trial-based FAs. Clinical supervisors received less than an hour and a half of direct training on trial-based FAs. The results suggest that, in a relatively short period of time, key personnel in organizations that serve individuals with developmental disabilities can not only be trained to conduct FAs but can also be taught to train others to conduct FAs with a high degree of procedural fidelity.

Aspects of Being a Board Certified Behavior Analyst This panel is intended to provide attendees with information related to utilizing Board Certified Behavior Analyst credentials within various practice domains. In particular, four presenters will present information from personal experiences related to the certification process, training future behavior analysts, the utility of the BCBA credential for working in the private sector, and alternative credentialing options for working in the private sector. Panel members range from an individual that recently obtained her BCBA credentials, a professor that trains future Board Certified Behavior Analysts, a doctoral level professional that utilizes the BCBA credential for employment (without third-party reimbursement), and a doctoral level professional that utilizes the BCBA credential for employment (with third-party reimbursement). Attendees

Contextual behavioral science is an emerging approach to behavioral science and practice that emphasizes a functional understanding of historically and situationally embedded actions. The pragmatic and a-ontological nature of contextual behavioral science makes it useful in understanding a number of other approaches. One concept that has been particularly important in contextual psychology has been psychological flexibility. Recently proposed as a fundamental aspect of psychological health, psychological flexibility refers to an individuals ability to 1) recognize and adapt to changing situational demands, 2) reconfigure mental resources to make use of appropriate behavioral repertoires, 3) shift perspectives, and 4) choose behaviors that reconcile competing desires, needs and life domains (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010). The conceptual papers in this symposium will consider the application of psychological flexibility and related principles from the contextual behavioral science tradition for understanding and enhancing non-behavioral therapeutic approaches including object relational approaches, equine facilitated psychotherapy, and therapies focusing on difficulties with sexual orientation.

Despite widespread efforts to de-pathologize and de-stigmatize homosexuality over thirty-five years ago, the quality of care available to individuals seeking psychotherapy for issues related to sexual orientation still varies widely. Issues like sexual identity, affiliation, discrimination, and stigma remain a unique challenge for many clinicians. This is largely due to a lack of empirical literature on the subject. Continued scientific progress in this area may depend on the development of a sound analysis of issues related to sexual orientation. This conceptual paper 1) reviews the literature on treatment for psychological difficulties associated with sexual orientation and 2) explores current trends and guidelines for therapy related to sexual orientation through the perspective of contextual behavioral science. In particular, psychological flexibility is offered as an aspect of psychological health that may be particularly important in reducing the suffering associated with the conflicts around sexual orientation. Implications for future research and treatment development are discussed.

Equine facilitated psychotherapy is a rapidly growing alternative method for psychological rehabilitation that is garnering preliminary positive outcome data. Although there are common technologies in equine facilitated psychotherapy, there is no agreed-upon theoretical framework that posits specific psychological processes that account for these outcomes. This hampers scientific progress in this area and continued treatment development. Psychological flexibility, a dimension of behavior emphasized in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, may provide a working model for the behavioral changes targeted in equine facilitated psychotherapy. This paper will explore how the equine-assisted session can create a unique and effective context for practicing present moment focus, experiential acceptance, cognitive defusion, perspective-taking and commitment to valued choices. For one, the equine assistant may be particularly sensitive to instances of inflexibility, providing ongoing and immediate feedback to the client. In addition, navigating the human-horse relationship provides a number of experiential metaphors for committed action towards personal values. Practical and conceptual challenges to integration will also be discussed.

Aggressive behaviour that has no clear function may involve aggression reinforcers. These kinds of reinforcers (or at least stimuli that are given this label) are not well discussed in contemporary behaviour analysis literature and therefore may not be considered in practice. Theoretical and empirical literature relating to aggression reinforcers will be reviewed and their implications for practitioners will be discussed.

The current paper will elucidate the behavioral processes underlying the procedure currently called DRO. We will argue why we believe that DRO is a misnomer, and explain why it should be classified as a punishment procedure rather than differential reinforcement. In addition, we will introduce a term that better describes the type of negative punishment that is analogous to the avoidance type of negative reinforcement (contrasted with escape). If there are2 types of negative reinforcement (escape and avoidance), then it should follow that there are also2 types of negative punishment. This subset of negative punishment will allow for a more complete and coherent understanding of negative punishment and ultimately allow for the creation of new procedures that are least restrictive.

This presentation examines the current literature on bringing challenging behavior under stimulus control as a means of developing a discrepancy paradigm. In order to differentially reinforce incompatible behavior, it is often necessary to bring the behavior targeted for punishment under stimulus control. This is especially true when the desired replacement behavior is actually the nonoccurrence of behavior all together (e.g., vocal stereotypy, barking dogs, etc.). In this session, the current knowledge-based for achieving stimulus control for differential punishment is extrapolated to the maxim of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. The purpose is to stimulate discussion on issues of hedonism and altruism in everyday behavior, within the context of rule governance and contingency shaping. Additional consideration will be given to group and individual selection from an evolutional perspective. Finally, the science of behavior analysis will be framed in terms of doing for and unto others.

The principle of reinforcement might bridge behavior analysis and other related fields such as diagnostics, biology and genetics. For example, primary reinforcers are stimuli whose reinforcing properties are not from conditioning. Rather, they are a result of the species phylogenic history, and hence, are genetically coded. Since genomes vary between organisms, even within species, what type of stimuli that function as primary reinforcers might vary across individuals. This variation might explain why some individuals develop unusual behavioral repertoires even when no correspondingly deviant environmental factors can be ascertained. Autistic behaviors can be interpreted as being an example of this. In this presentation, studies indicating that children with autism may have deviant primary reinforcement profiles are reviewed, and the results are interpreted within a behavior analytic framework. Conceptual problems with using primary reinforcer valences in research are discussed. Finally, studies that might combine such interpretation of autism and knowledge from genetics and biology are suggested. A successful interpretation of the etiology of autism is not only strategically important; it may also lead to interventions aimed at preventing autism in high-risk infants.

Perspective-taking abilities are an important component of everyday functioning. The majority of research in this area has approached these skills from a cognitive or developmental perspective. However, recent research grounded in Relational Frame Theory has focused on more behavioral measures of these skills, and whether or not these abilities can be trained. This symposium explores perspective-taking abilities as demonstrated by performance on behavioral measures of deictic relations. The first paper evaluates2 different experimental preparations used to assess deictic relations, as well as the relationship between performance on these tasks and language ability. The next paper explores the relationship between behavioral measures of deictic relations and emotion recognition abilities, as well as their relationship to commonly used self-report measures of emotional competence. The third paper examines the effect of deictic relational training on Theory of Mind performance in individuals with intellectual disabilities. Implications for the behavioral assessment and training of perspective taking skills will then be discussed.

The vast majority of research to date on emotion recognition and perspective taking abilities has utilized self-report measures, which offer only a limited account of these behavioral repertoires. Only recently has research begun to focus on developing behavioral measures of these skills. Individuals who have developed the ability to tact or label the emotional experience of themselves and/or others tend to perform better in social situations, which is an important component of psychological and physical wellbeing, social relationships and employability (Nelis et al., 2011). As a result, this study seeks to explore the relationship between computerized behavioral measures of emotion recognition and perspective taking, as well as their relationship to established self-report measures of related abilities (i.e. emotional intelligence, emotional empathy and alexithymia). Particular attention will be paid to conceptualizing these abilities as dynamic skills that can improve with practice. In addition, results and implications for training emotion recognition and perspective taking repertoires will be discussed.

People with intellectual disabilities frequently demonstrate difficulties in social skills, which may be related to perspective taking skills. Perspective taking skills have been studied using Theory of Mind, a developmental process during which individuals gradually begin to have a theory about mind. More recently, perspective taking has been studied from a Relational Frame Theory (RFT) perspective. From this perspective, perspective taking skills can be trained via a series of questions. The purpose of this study was to conduct RFT perspective taking training with 4 people with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, we examined Theory of Mind and perspective taking progress following each phase of training. We found incremental increases in Theory of Mind and perspective taking scores following each phase of training. We conclude that future research could focus on the relationship between training perspective taking skills and social skill improvements in people with intellectual disabilities.

In collaboration with the Student Committee, the Applied Animal Behavior Special Interest group presents a panel discussion with behavior analysts working in applied animal behavior in a variety of settings including zoo/aquarium, university, and private practice. Panelists will discuss their experiences in applied animal behavior with regard to training, opportunities and challenges in various settings, and the market for behavior analysts in the field of applied animal behavior.

OBMers are diligent students of an organization's overt practices' looking ever-so-closely at input, throughput, and output while mapping processes. We identify contingencies of reinforcement and punishment, as well as sometimes obvious and occasionally near-invisible feedback that drives behavior in organizations. Our publications present the power of behavior-based technology in carefully defined applications. Applications of behavioral technology to improve products and services are valuable. Yet we often operate with a narrow, even myopic, view of performance that lacks the breadth and depth of analysis to yield a full assessment of an organization's performance. Often omitted is the power of its history. An organization's values may showcase today's promises, apparent reality, while masking darker, deadly, current and historical backstage practices. The continuing devastation from covert practices in the financial industry provides abundant evidence of the failure of limited vision. Underground mining disasters present tragic and all-too-familiar cases of apparent regulatory compliance masking pathological practices. This presentation will highlight histories and cumulative power of flawed, sometimes deadly, histories and practices in two chemical and pharmaceutical companies. Suggestions will be presented for, 1) improving organizational assessments, including corrective lens for OBM myopia, and 2) development of more complete models of organizations and performance.

This tutorial is suitable for introductory level and above.

I will present an overview of work by my research group exploring the development and evaluation of sensor-driven mobile health technologies for measuring and motivating health-related behavior. We are creating prototype technologies that use context-aware sensing to empower people with information by presenting it in timely, tailored ways via home and mobile computing devices. I will outline our general approach showing examples of technologies developed in pilot projects, with a special focus on an effort to develop a new open-source tool for measuring physical activity type, duration, intensity, and location on common mobile phones for population scale health studies. This activity measurement system, and others we are working on using common mobile phones, provide new ways to create what are known as persuasive technologies using positive reinforcement and tailored, just-in-time messaging.

This presentation will focus on how a data-driven, research-based behavior analytic model of education is affecting the educational practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a post war country in transition with the post-communist model of education. For over 30 years the Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling or CABAS model schools have been serving students, parents and educators throughout the world and the research that comes out of those schools is continually advancing the science of Applied Behavior Analysis and Education. CABAS schools today serve students with and without disabilities and continue to promote high standards of educational practices and an overall scientific approach to teaching in the USA, England, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Spain. It is a comprehensive system of teaching as a science, that produces hundreds of experiments each year, disseminates the findings and applies the same across all classrooms it serves across the world. The CABAS model provided a modern, effective, evidence-based, and research-driven opportunity to help children in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and provided the evidence based pedagogy as a systematic solution to the education crisis in BiH. A Pilot Project with 2 classrooms and 20 children with developmental delays was started in 2010 and the first data suggest the Bosnian classrooms can successfully replicate the American outcomes. Twenty children, 10 educators, and 20 parents have directly benefited from teaching as science, and many more educators and students have benefited indirectly through lectures, consultations and observations of work with the target students. In 2011, 64 children were included in 7 classrooms, with a constant stream of new students arriving from the whole country. I will discuss the significance of applying the science of behavior to education in terms of how these data can affect the Bosnian education system and the successfulness of the evidence based pedagogy as a systematic solution to the education crisis in BiH. Also, I will share with you all the trials and tribulations of trying to start an education revolution one learn unit at the time!

Language training curricula for individuals with developmental disabilities often include programs that teach expressive or intraverbal categorization in which the learner is taught to answer questions such as "What toys do you have at home?" or "Tell me the names of some animals." Although such repertoires are undoubtedly important, some instructional approaches instill these repertoires as rote intraverbal chains. However, it is apparent that many sophisticated learners answer such categorical questions not through rote learning but by first engaging in other (often covert) problem solving responses. In this presentation, I will share the results of two investigations in which preschool-aged children were successfully taught verbal and visual imagining strategies to answer questions about category membership. The implications of these studies for teaching language to individuals with developmental disabilities will be discussed and some recommendations toward that end will be provided.

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Escape extinction (e.g., nonremoval of the spoon) is well-documented as an effective treatment for increasing the acceptance of nonpreferred food/drinks in children with feeding disorders. These procedures typically involve holding a spoon at the child's lips until he/she accepts a bite/drink or until a predetermined meal duration is met. As a result, some children may learn to "wait out" the time cap and avoid bites/drinks altogether. Such circumstances may call for the utilization of additional procedures to increase acceptance. A Nuk brush massager is a feeding utensil that has been shown to be effective for decreasing expulsions and packing. The current study evaluated the effects of using a Nuk in combination with escape extinction to increase the acceptance of drinks in a 3-year-old male diagnosed with autism. Across all phases of the analysis, interobserver agreement data were collected on at least 20% of all sessions and averaged over 80% for all dependent measures. Results show that when the Nuk was used in combination with nonremoval of the spoon, acceptance was significantly higher that with escape extinction alone.

Ahearn, Castine, Nault, and Green (2001) discussed the reported prevalence of unusual eating patterns in children with autism. For example, children with autism have been reported to have preferences for specific utensils, food colors, or textures. Such idiosyncratic variables may contribute to the development and maintenance of ritualistic mealtime behaviors (e.g., tantrums, food/drink refusal). The purpose of the current study was twofold. First, we sought to develop methods for assessing idiosyncratic feeding behavior often reported in children with autism. Second, we demonstrated that, despite clear preferences that children with autism may have for specific mealtime rituals (i.e., using specific utensils), behavioral treatments can be used to effectively alter mealtime behavior. Specifically, the current study assessed 1 child's reported preferences for certain colored (i.e., white, beige) foods as well as a preference for a clear glass cup versus an opaque plastic cup. Despite a clear preference for the glass cup, demonstrated using a concurrent operants arrangement, no differential responding in consumption was observed when a treatment was implemented. Throughout the analysis, interobserver agreement was collected on over 20% of sessions and averaged over 80% for all dependent measures.

As a result of time constraints associated with various applied settings, behavior analysts have developed brief models of functional analysis. Thus, evaluations of various models of brief functional analyses for consistency and treatment utility are vital. A comparative study of 3 models of brief functional analyses was conducted with 2 participants with histories of challenging behavior. During the brief A-B analysis, the antecedents were manipulated across conditions and no programmed consequences were provided. During the brief A-B-C analysis, both antecedents and consequences were systematically manipulated across conditions. During the brief, latency-based analysis, sessions were terminated following the first instance of challenging behavior. Additionally, brief treatment evaluations were conducted based on results of each of the3 models. Results showed correspondence between the 3 variations with each of 2 participants. In addition, greater function differentiation was observed with the A-B model when compared to the A-B-C, and latency-based models. Interobserver agreement was collected for at least 30% of sessions across participants and agreement was 90% or above. Although preliminary in nature, these results suggest that the brief A-B functional analysis model may be most effective at identifying functions in environments in which abbreviated methods are necessary.

Two behavioural interventions were done with an eight-year-old girl with Asperger syndrome. The first targeted food refusal and the second, a year later, increased her cognitive flexibility within family interactions. Intervention 1: The girl complained of an upset stomach before her school lunch (no medical reason) resulting in refusal to eat (she eventually lost 15% of body weight). The intervention restructured her reaction to an upset stomach just prior to lunch. She was taught to use symptoms as a cue to initiate pre-taught self-management strategies. When she felt symptoms, she recorded how her stomach felt before eating and then, her food consumption. These strategies were successful and she regained lost weight. Intervention 2: Lack of flexibility in family interactions resulted in "rules" dictating which (a) family member could sit with her on the couch; and (b) she always needed to win at a game. The intervention consisted of her identifying "rules" that she would not discard and four "rules" that she could possibly change. By the end of the intervention, she had discarded the first 4 "rules" plus another 7. Her mother reported that "rule" changes had produced more cognitive flexibility, which positively impacted family functioning.

Scant research information is available regarding how to facilitate the participation of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in community recreation activities such as swimming, which is age appropriate throughout the lifespan and an essential safety skill. This study examined the impact of a behaviour analytic training workshop and in-pool coaching aimed at empowering staff in community-based recreation settings to support children with ASD in swim instruction. Participants included 8 children with ASD, ages 4–11, with a range of swimming and communication abilities; and 6 swimming instructors from local community pools. The study was conducted using a quasi-experimental time series design (Campbell & Stanley, 1963). Instructors were taught to (a) establish rapport using stimulus-stimulus pairing; (b) use activity schedules depicting the target skills in each lesson; (c) intersperse easy and difficult tasks; and (d) deliver clear instructions, effective prompts, and contingent reinforcement, as appropriate. Preliminary results indicate that, following instructor training, children with ASD were more cooperative and acquired swimming skills at a faster rate. Feedback from instructors, parents, and aquatics coordinators indicated strong social validity. Results have implications for both future research and community service providers' capacity to provide effective instruction to children with ASD.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder have marked social deficits that have life long implications for development and quality of life. Research suggests that individuals working with children with autism can positively affect social behavior through the use of socially embedded consequences. More specifically the use of socially embedded consequences can effect joint attention, social engagement, and affect in children diagnosed with autism. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of video modeling on the frequency of staffs use of socially embedded consequences and to examine the effects of staffs increased use of socially embedded consequence on child and staff social behavior specifically in the areas of joint attention, social engagement, and affect. Efficiently training staff to embed social interactions within reinforcer delivery can be an effective way to improve social skills in children diagnosed with autism.

During the summer of 2011, a peer-mediated social skills program was implemented across an inclusive, city-wide summer camp. Behavior observation occurred for 2-3 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) each week, depending on enrollment. Camp counselors were trained in the strategies and 2 behavioral therapists coached the counselors in applying the techniques and collected data. Typically-developing peers were taught disability awareness activities and behavioral strategies at the beginning of their week at camp. Camp counselors then prompted peers to use these strategies in naturally occurring interactions with the children with disabilities. Children with ASD were then included in all activities occurring at the specific camp with their peers. Camp counselors also completed a pre- and post-social skills questionnaire on their observations of the child's social skills. Results indicated that reinforcing activities were necessary to maintain the increase in social skills, adult proximity, and involvement directly influenced the rate of social interactions, and the level of previous social exposure to the camp setting influenced the rate of social interactions.

One of the most essential and most widely applied principles in behavior analysis is the use of positive reinforcement. A key component in identifying potential reinforcers is to consider the momentary effectiveness of any stimulus change as reinforcement indicated by the existing level of motivation. In examining motivating operations (MO) we are able to identify potential establishing operations (EO) an MO that increases the current effectiveness of a reinforcer, as well as abolishing operations (AO) an MO that decreases the current effectiveness of a reinforcer. The purpose of this study was to determine if targeted maladaptive behaviors would decrease by eliminating perceived establishing operations and introducing instead possible abolishing operations. The study was a reversal design across 8 adolescents diagnosed with moderate to severe autism. These participants were enrolled in the PAAL Program; a life skills community-based private program in Downingtown, PA that adhered to the principles of applied behavior analysis. The motivating operation studied was the environment of Ocean City, NJ where the participants spent a week of their summer in a community immersion peer mentoring program. Maladaptive behaviors and their functions were identified for each individual and programmed for in the school environment prior to the trip. Behavior data were collected a week prior to the trip, during the trip, and the week following. Both participant 1 and 2 had behaviors that were consistent with the tangible function, and participants 3 and 4 with the escape function. A preference assessment identified various preferred activities and environments within the trip for participants 1-3, while participant 4 ranked those same activities as least. Data indicated that participants 1 and 2 engaged in low levels of behavior while on the trip when access to preferred tangibles was not limited as in the typical environment. Participant 3 engaged in no behavior while on the trip while demands were at a low level unlike the typical environment. Participant 4 engaged in high levels of behavior while on the trip indicating that engaging in the non-preferred activities as a high demand situation, and was sent home early from the trip.

Thirty six children, ages 6-15, participated in an 8-week Summer Therapeutic Activity Program (STAP) designed for individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The STAP provided a treatment package consisting of social skill and language acquisition programming (via discrete trial instruction and traditional classroom teaching), visual supports (picture activity schedules), and a token economy system with response cost. Direct training of skills occurred during the morning/classroom sessions, while the afternoon portion of the program included generalization opportunities via recreational activities. The participants were divided into two groups according to language ability - (1) Emerging Language and (2) Conversational Language. Participant data were tracked in both groups for compliance to adult direction. Additional measures were taken in the Emerging Language Group for spontaneous mands and play skills. Data indicated that all participants experienced improvement from baseline in the area of compliance to adult direction with a mean improvement of 21.6% for the Emerging Language Group and 18.1% for the Conversational Language Group. Accuracy probes for spontaneous mands and play skills indicated that two-thirds of the participants in the Early Language Group improved by an average of 64.1% from baseline with manding and 18.1% from baseline with play skills.

Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by difficulties in communication, social functioning, as well as the presence of stereotyped behaviors and restricted interests. Several empirically supported instructional methods have been found to promote skill acquisition in individuals with autism. Many of these methods, such as Discrete Trial Instruction (DTI), typically utilize desktop instruction and massed trials to provide learning opportunities. Additionally, other research indicates that more naturalistic styles of instruction, such as Natural Environment Training (NET), provide more functional learning opportunities for learners. This style of teaching may also provide greater opportunity for generalization of skills outside of the classroom setting. While research exists supporting different treatment contexts, relatively little research has investigated how to match instructional style to student preferences and performance. The current investigation involved teaching parallel skills in 3 different teaching modalities (discrete trial, naturalistic/contextual and computer-based instruction) to determine which resulted in the fastest acquisition. Results to this point indicate that both naturalistic/contextual, and computer-based instruction resulted in more rapid acquisition of skills relative to traditional discrete trial methods of instruction. Results are discussed in the context of the development of assessment procedures to determine the instructional best-fit for students.

Drowning is a leading cause of death for children with special needs. This unfortunate incident may be prevented if children with special needs are taught to swim, however, it is often difficult to find resources in the community to teach specialized skills such as swimming to different learners. This study examined the most efficient way to teach swimming and water safety skills to children with special needs. Two children on the autism spectrum were included in this study. Several behavioral principles were used in this package intervention including a task analysis, reinforcement, escape extinction, imitation, and peer modeling. Procedures and materials are described in detail with respect to the 2 different learners, 1 with a high verbal skill repertoire and 1 with a limited verbal skill repertoire.

This poster highlights the improvement in direction following of a twelve-year-old boy with a diagnosis of autism. The client received 27 hours per week of state-funded behavior management services in his home. The treatment team sought to employ the least intrusive behavior management strategies while still achieving greater control and improved safety around unpredictable tantrum behavior. Given the lack of self-regulation and self-management during tantrums, following even simple directions critical for the students safety or the safety of others was often compromised. The team thus designed a program to establish a history with a novel cue that would signal an increased probability of reinforcement contingent upon compliance, first during non-agitated times and then during periods of accelerated problem behavior. The critical features of instruction included ease of directions given, schedules of reinforcement, and presence/absence of agitation. Due to the students personal interest in Spanish, the cue Mrame, (look at me), was selected. Student performance data, measured in correct and incorrect responses to directions, will be charted and shown on a Standard Celeration Chart. Critical and variable features of instruction as well as criterion for data-based decisions will be discussed.

Developing functional speech with non-vocal individuals with autism can be one of the biggest challenges for speech and language pathologists as well as behavior analysts. Several studies have found that many children with autism have oral motor difficulties (c.f. Adams, 1998; Page & Boucher, 1998; Slavin & Amato, 1998). Typical approaches for developing speech have involved presenting auditory-visual cues for the indidivual to imitate (echoics), however children with autism have been shown to have difficulties with imitation skills (c.f. Rogers et al., 2003; Giacomo et al., 2009). Oral Placement Therapy focuses on using proprioceptive-tactile input along with auditory-visual presentation to teach the correct placement for speech sounds and then transition these placements into speech (Bahr & Rosenfield-Johnson, 2010). A program which combines Applied Behavior Analysis, including techniques for increasing vocalizations and developing echoic behavior, along with Oral Placement Therapy may be advantageous in teaching speech to non-vocal individuals with autism. Findings from case studies using this systematic approach, applied to children ranging from 3 years of age to 12, will be presented.

This is an ongoing data-case study of a 19 year old with autism and apraxia. As of September 2009 the subject, aside from process receptively, still had relatively no functional oral speech after fifteen years of echoic training in various applied and verbal behavior programs. Our intensive, incremental, multi-sensory approach to teaching oral speech is by establishing mastery to automaticity of precise articulation at the phoneme, noun and sentence levels across the RD, tact, oral/written recall and dictation. The treatment plan builds a framework for organizing the production, perception and memory of spoken language. As seen in our graph, the subject's phonemic lexicon has increased from a baseline of 25 sounds to the full 44 phonemes, has acquired 88 nouns from his initial lexicon of 13 nouns and has been able to use all nouns in three carrier phrases - I see, I want and I have. In addition, the subject is generalizing oral speech skills across various settings. The goal of this poster is to share our experience and success, while offering guidelines for language intervention and remediation.

We evaluated the accuracy and reliability of various momentary time sampling (MTS) procedures for collecting data on sleep problems in two children diagnosed with autism. We also compared these direct measures of sleep problems obtained via nighttime video recording to parental diaries. Dependent measures were sleep onset delay, number of night awakenings, minutes of night awakenings, and total hours of sleep. We obtained these measures using 5 minute, 10 minute, 30 minute, 60 minute, and 120 minute MTS intervals, and compared the results against the continuous (second-by-second) data to determine the largest interval capable of collecting accurate and reliable data. Results showed that the differences between the MTS data and continuous data increased with increasing interval size. The largest interval lengths capable of measuring the sleep problems with an acceptable degree of error and showing sensitivity to the independent variable were MTS 10 min for sleep onset delay, and MTS 30 min for night awakenings, and total hours of sleep. Parental diary data also showed sensitivity to the independent variable and were consistent with our direct measures.

Physical stereotypy often interferes with learning and performing daily tasks for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study examined the reductive effects of two conditions on the rate of physical stereotypy for three children with ASD. The target behaviors included hand flapping, head tapping, tapping on objects, body tensing, toe walking, and inappropriate running or skipping. The exercise condition consisted of 5 minutes of constant physical activity such as running or jumping. The control condition consisted of 5 minutes of appropriate activities without any physical stimulation such as reading or toy play. The target physical behavior was recorded for 10 minutes immediately following each of the conditions, while the experimenter presented previously mastered and acquisition tasks specific to the child. The results showed that the exercise condition reduced two of the three participants physical stereotypy when used as an antecedent modification to academic tasks. However, one participant showed a slight reduction in physical stereotypy after the control condition when rates were compared to baseline levels. The use of antecedent exercise for the treatment of stereotypic behaviors is supported by this research.

Recent research indicates high prevalence of anxiety in individuals with autism (de Bruin, Ferdinand, Meester, de Nijs, & Verheij, 2007; Gillott & Standen, 2007; Mayes, Calhoun, Murray, Ahuja, & Smith, 2011; White, Oswald, Ollendick, & Scahill, 2009). Behavior analysts are likely to encounter individuals with autism exhibiting responding to escape feared conditions. Often, it is necessary to overcome these fears to accomplish essential activities. In this research we evaluated a stimulus fading procedure to reduce phobic avoidance of hair and hand dryers exhibited by a child with autism. The participant was gradually exposed to contrived conditions with the presence of a hair dryer and conditions in the natural environment with a hand dryer. Preliminary results indicate the procedure was effective at reducing phobic avoidance of hair dryers, but not effective at generalizing to other stimuli. Sequential modifications with different hair dryers were necessary.

Many studies have been carried out on the use of reinforcement within the ABA framework i.e. schedules of reinforcement, DRO. There is an extensive amount of research which supports the use of reinforcement as an effective teaching technique. (Francisco, Borrero & Jolene, 2008. Roll, Higgins & Badger, 1996). However, there has been little or no research into the effects of different error-correction and prompt fading techniques. They are important procedures, as the aim of these procedures is to reduce the number of errors a student makes. However, there is a notable lack of research into the error correction procedures and prompt fading used in these schools and in turn their effectiveness upon skill acquisition. Many schools employ one error correction procedure across all programs (for example, pointing to the correct picture when a child makes a mistake and allowing them to correct their response) but with no real rationale behind this. It is also often the case that schools employ one prompt procedure,(for example, least to most where the tutor begins with the least obvious prompt, such as gesturing towards the correct picture and moves successively through a hierarchy of more obvious prompts if less obvious ones fail to be effective in eliciting the correct response). Research in the past has shown a number of prompting procedures to be effective, but very little research has systematically compared the different approaches (MacDuff, Krantz, & McClannahan, 2001) Similarly, the research that has investigated error correction procedures (Rodgers & Iwata, 1991) has suggested that future research should be carried out in order to specify the component behavioural mechanisms within the error correction procedure and to determine which are most effective to maximise learning. The purpose of the present study is to address the area of error correction and the use of prompts in ABA classrooms for children and adolescents with autism. The aims of the project are: To gather information on the types of correction procedures used in ABA schools in Ireland. To evaluate the information gathered by the information screening tool. To design a second study based on the information gathered which will investigate the efficiency of different error-correction techniques. This study could form a basis upon which an effective error correction procedures could be employed in schools

The aggressive behavior of autistic children represent problems for their parents and teachers, who do not know the behavioral principles to modify aggressive behavior. The overall objective of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate a program of behavior modification on the aggressive behaviors of2 children with autism, based on the principles of applied behavior analysis. The study was conducted in the classroom of Autism Group Children of Special Education Center at Xalapa, Veracruz. The students selected were those with more frecuency of aggressive behaviors. The materials used were: questionnaire to experts, manual with techniques and behavior modification, registration form of aggressive behaviors. An experimental within subject design AB (baseline and intervention phase) (Grass Arnau, 1987) was implemented. During the baseline were recorded frequencies of occurrence of aggressive behavior and in the intervention phase was implemented the applied behavior analysis principles to decrease it. The results show that the behavioral program was effective to decrease the frequency of aggressive behaviors of the2 autistic chilren and their behavior patterns were stabilized.

Social impairments are one of the most defining characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Peer-mediated Instruction and Intervention (PMII) involves teaching peers to interact with and facilitate social communication in children with ASD; PMII is considered an evidence-based practice as defined by the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders (2008) and the National Autism Centers National Standards Report (2009). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a peer-mediated training package designed to teach two students with ASD, enrolled in two public elementary schools, to engage in interactions with peers in a social context. Four to five confederates for each student with ASD were taught to use a peer-mediated training package when playing. A multiple baseline design across social behaviors identified by norm-referenced social rating scales was used to show effects of the intervention. Increases in the rate per minute of target behaviors suggest that the confederates successfully modeled the social skills with the students with ASD. This project extends the research of PMII as an evidence-based practice for teaching social skills to elementary-aged children with ASD within a public school setting.

Children with autism often have difficulty completing long independent response chains. As a result, caregivers complete many daily living skills for these individuals. The purpose of the current study will be to teach a daily living skill to three boys diagnosed with autism. Photographic activity schedules and manual prompts will be used to teach meal preparation skills and a back-to-front fading procedure will be used to systematically fade the activity schedules. The results are expected to show an increase in independent responding when the activity schedules are introduced and that responding will remain independent as the schedules are systematically removed.

While maladaptive behaviors that are maintained by automatic reinforcement are common among individuals with autism, it is often considered difficult to directly manipulate the stimulus thought to be responsible for maintenance of behaviors (Iwata, et al., 1994). The current study extends the implications from an existing study (Piazza et al., 1996) by using a procedure based on stimulus control to achieve generalized effects of an intervention for self-touching maintained by automatic reinforcement exhibited by a 7 year-old girl with autism. Previous analysis revealed that her self-touching occurred across settings, activities, and therapists, and reinforcement-based interventions using DRI or DRO paired with a token economy or a response-cost intervention had not produced desirable effects. An intervention that involved a mild punishment procedure of holding arms up for 1 minute showed immediate decrease of the target behavior; however, the effects was temporal and did not generalize across therapists and across settings such as at daycare, home, and during school bus rides. The current study used a multiple-baseline across settings design with built-in probes by novel therapists to examine the effects of color cards used in conjunction with the cost response procedure. Implications for practice and areas for further research will be discussed.

Self-management is a data driven, behaviorally-based intervention implemented to either increase a target behavior or to decrease maladaptive behavior while improving independent responding. This intervention can be successfully used across a wide variety of natural environments and with individuals demonstrating a wide range of skill deficiencies. Self-management has shown particular success when used with individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Young children with ASDs often exhibit difficulties with initiating, responding to, and maintaining peer social interaction. In this study, self-management was used to increase the frequency of social interactions with peers. Self-management procedures were implemented within an inclusive preschool classroom and taught to parents so that intervention could also be implemented at home. Prompting and eventually the self-management system were systematically faded as social interactions with peers increased. Data showed that self-management procedures can successfully be used to increase peer social interaction within an inclusive, early childhood classroom setting, that self-management can be easily implemented by both professionals and caregivers, and that self-management interventions can result in collateral gains across multiple child environments.

This poster compares the effects of using joint action routines or using graduated guidance teaching techniques on skill acquisition rates of a 13-year old male with autism. Tasks were categorized as (household chores, science, and outdoor chores). Each category contains two comparable chains that are similar in the amount of steps, function, and length of time to completion. One task from each category was then randomly assigned to be taught using either graduated guidance or as a joint action routine. A joint action routine is a play activity in which both partners have key roles and build on each others contributions through modeling and observation (Bruner, 1977). Joint action routines are the frames for teaching in the Early Start Denver Model and involve taking turns and the ability to carry out various roles within the routine. Rate of skill acquisition was determined by the number of newly mastered targets per week within each task and specific teaching strategy. Initial results suggest that the skill acquisition rate for the task taught using a joint action routine increased at a higher rate than the task taught using graduated guidance.

Building social skills in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is critical for their success in becoming independent members of the community. In this study, staff trained in Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis used naturalistic teaching methods to facilitate social skills in 4 children with ASD within a 5-week summer camp with neurotypical peers. Social skills such as participation in group activities, taking turns, and initiating and maintaining interactions were taught by using modeling, prompting, and positive reinforcement. Overall changes in social skills were measured by comparing pre- and post-scores on The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). All 4 children showed improved scores as compared to baseline. A social validity measure, in the form of a parent satisfaction survey, suggested that social skills generalized to other settings and were maintained after camp ended. These findings suggest that inclusionary summer camps may be an effective way to build social skills in learners with ASD.

Parenting a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often associated with extremely high levels of stress. High levels of caregiver stress can, for example, decrease the success of early intervention and result in poorer health outcomes for caregivers. The present study examines stress and health in caregivers of children with ASDs in Ireland. The study includes caregivers of children with ASDs aged 2-18 years and a matched control group of caregivers of typically developing children. Participants completed questionnaires and wore an ambulatory blood pressure monitor for 24 hours. A structured daily diary was completed throughout the day to determine the impact of naturalistic stressors and supports on cardiovascular measures. The use of saliva sampling also enables objective measurement of physiological processes, so a number of saliva samples were collected across the day and cortisol, alpha-amylase, and C-reactive protein assays were conducted. A cardiovascular reactivity test was conducted to determine the impact of a mental arithmetic stressor on blood pressure and heart rate. Within- and between-subjects analyses will be conducted and results will be presented. The implications for supporting caregivers of children with ASD will be discussed.

In order to begin instruction in Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) therapists must first transition children to the work area. Although this is an essential first step to beginning IBI instruction, there is little published research examining methods to program for transitions without problem behavior. The intervention package implemented within the current study, like most IBI programming, includes high rates of reinforcement and errorless teaching procedures. The intervention uses slow increases in the response requirements (the distance to the chair) to reduce the likelihood of problem behavior during transitions. This study uses a distributed criterion design (McDougall, 2006) across therapists. Initial data show zero rates of independent transitions during baseline probes of the final transition step. Probes were delivered in sets of 4 and video recorded to allow for coding of treatment integrity and inter-observer agreement on dependent variables. Initial data from 1 participant shows rapid acquisition as criterion increases. Increases of criterion for behavior generalized across therapists, but generalization of the terminal criterion shown in probes has not occurred. Potential necessary and sufficient conditions for instruction are examined within the experimental design. Data collection is ongoing and replication has begun with a second participant.

Discrete Trial Training (DTT) is an effective teaching procedure (Green, 1996) to teach various basic learning skills for children with autism. Yet, studies examining the effectiveness of training for parents are limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of individual parent training focusing on the Discrete Trial methodology for parents of children with autism. The participants were 15 mothers of children with autism aged from 1 to 6 (5G: 14B, Mean age=3y 9m). 3 behavioral categories were selected for the training upon childs learning functioning and multiple baseline design was used to test the efficiency of the program. Mothers performance rate was evaluated by a training checklist and childs compliance to mothers instruction was also recorded. The results showed that all of the mothers performance rates improved on each behavioral category after the training. In addition, after the mothers learned instruction of first category, 10 out of 15 mothers presented improved performance before the instruction method for the category was introduced. The result implicates that DTT parent training is effective for mothers to change their behaviors and help their children to learn new behaviors more efficiently. It also suggests that mothers can generalize what they have learned to their daily lives.

Previous studies have demonstrated that multiple exemplar instruction has been shown to be an effective procedure to induce both listener half of Naming as well as full Naming in students missing this repertoire. It is important to therefore continue to explore areas of research that test for more procedures such as the listener emersion protocol which focuses in the development of fluent listener skills and may also be successful in inducing listener half of Naming. We conducted a study to test if the effects of teaching the listener emersion procedure would lead to the emergence of listener half of naming for pre-school students with severe language delays.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of Multiple Exemplar Instruction (MEI) with common 3-D objects from environment on the acquisition of Naming with 2 and 3-year olds. Also, we wanted to test whether acquisition of Naming with 3-D stimuli would automatically mean generalization of Naming from 3-D to 2-D stimuli, that were never directly taught.

The current study proposes the use of an interactive robot to provide social feedback during discrete trial instruction. Research has shown that children with autism: (1) typically excel in treatment programs that rely on visual stimuli, and (2) are more intrinsically interested when the treatment involves technical, electronic, or robotic components. Participants will be divided into 2 groups. The first group will receive intervention on a target social skill by the therapist, without the use of a robot. The second group will receive interventions on a target social skill with the use of an interactive robot as well as the therapist. After 4 weeks of treatment, the participants will change groups. The rate of acquisition will be assessed on the target skill with and without the use of the robot during intervention sessions. The purpose of the study is to examine whether the inclusion of an interactive robot in a social skills intervention program will improve responses by a child with autism during treatment, motivation for treatment, and social behavior outside of treatment.

Urine alarms have been used in effective toilet training packages and as the sole intervention for decreasing toileting accidents (e.g., Friman & Vollmer, 1995; LeBlanc, Carr, Crossett, Bennett, & Detweiler, 2005). The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy and social validity ratings of3 different urine alarms. Participants were two children diagnosed with autism who had a history of failed toilet training. Participants wore 1 of 3 urine alarms on a rotating basis for a series of 1-hour sessions at school. Participants were allowed to access the bathroom upon request, and teacher-prompted visits were scheduled upon arrival to school and prior to departure. Data are summarized as percentage true positive accidents, percentage false negative accidents, and frequency of false positive accidents for each urine alarm. Following the brief alarm comparison, staff completed a social validity survey for each alarm model on ease of application, level of interference, and perceived efficacy. A direct assessment of social validity was conducted by tracking staff selections of each alarm during comprehensive behavioral toilet training. Results to date suggest that jaw-clip urine alarms were more accurate and more preferred by staff than the sensor-insert alarm based on direct and indirect assessment data.

Children with High-Functioning Autism (HFA)/Aspergers Syndrome (AS) experience a diverse range of social and emotional deficits. While interventions have been designed to address such problematic functioning, evidence-based psychosocial treatments are in short supply. The present study examines the efficacy of a multi-family group treatment program for children with HFA/AS. Multi-Family Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (MF-PEP), originally developed as an adjunctive treatment for children with mood disorders (Fristad et al., 2002, 2003, 2009), has been adapted to children with HFA/AS given the similar domains of behavioral and affective dysregulation in these two populations. Consisting of 9 weekly sessions of 1.5 hours each, parents and children receive psychoeducation, social support, and cognitive behavioral therapy targeting emotion-regulation, problem-solving, communication, and symptoms-management skills in separate (child group and parent group) and joint sessions. A preliminary analysis of data from initial pilot MF-PEP groups completed with children aged 8-12 with HFA/AS suggests overall treatment satisfaction (Child group: t(5) = 10.70, p < 0.05, 95% CL [1.13, 1.85]; Parent group: t(5) = 6.22, p < 0.05, 95% CL [0.76, 1.83]). This study examining data on this novel treatment for children with HFA/AS is an important step towards establishing much needed empirically-supported treatments for children with HFA/AS.

The purpose of the current investigation was to evaluate the effects of a chaining procedure including intermittent vocal prompts and social praise on accurate performance of two separate four step dance sequences demonstrated by a young male diagnosed with autism. Positive outcomes were achieved and results are discussed with respect to efficient and effective teaching practices to improve physical activity for individuals with ASD. This study builds on the contributions and limitations marked by previous investigations and suggest opportunities for future research.

The purpose of this analysis was to assess social validity with three adolescent males diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in addition to their caregivers and other relevant stakeholders. Participants engaged in high levels of automatically-reinforced motor stereotypy and previously experienced a treatment component analysis designed to identify the necessary components to decrease stereotypy and increase appropriate play behavior. The treatment consisted of enriching the environment with leisure materials, prompting appropriate play, restricting access to motor stereotypy through blocking, and providing access to the stereotypy contingent on appropriate play behavior. The present analysis objectively assessed each clients preference, using a concurrent-chains arrangement, for this treatment package versus other relevant treatments commonly used to treat stereotypy (e.g., blocking only, activities only). An indirect assessment was then conducted with caretakers and other relevant stakeholders of each participant via viewing video clips and filling out a questionnaire, to assess the social acceptability of the purpose, goals, and effects of treatment (i.e., behavior changes observed after experiencing treatment) and the procedures that were implemented. Results of the treatment preference assessment indicated that all participants preferred conditions where activities were present as well as the treatment package. Social validity assessed by caregivers and relevant stakeholders indicated overall that the treatment package purpose, goals, treatment procedures, and amount of behavior change were appropriate and acceptable.

Children with Autism often do not provide enough detail and information when engaged in conversation. Narrating private events, or describing situations and topics in detail so that others understand them is often challenging. Teaching a child to provide more information to his listener improves conversation skills and decreases the strain on the conversation partner. We used Fluency Based Instruction to increase the level of detail the learner provided to his teacher when describing a picture for his teacher to draw, while systematically increasing the level of detail he needed to provide to his teacher. This poster illustrates both the process and the outcomes.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have difficulty complying with simple instructions. Compliance with instructions is fundamental for maintaining children's safety as well as success in school environments. The present study taught three children with Autism Spectrum Disorder ages 18 months through 36 months how to comply with key instructions using a compliance training method developed by the principal investigator. The procedure proposed to develop compliance in young children with ASD is designed specifically to establish stimulus control and is based on basic behavioral research demonstrating how stimulus control is established. The procedure is novel in the sense that uncontrolled pilot applications of the procedure have shown that it can establish compliance in individuals with very low levels of compliance. After compliance is established with the experimenters, parents were taught to use similar procedures to establish the generality of compliance. The effectiveness of the procedure is evaluated using single subject research methodology.

The use of experimental functional assessments are a critical component of efficient service delivery. However, the feasibility of direct care therapists conducting functional analyses has been limited. Direct care therapists working at a center based program serving learners diagnosed with autism were exposed to both the Iwata et al., 1982/1994 functional analysis article, and the Bloom et at., 2011 trial-based functional analysis article. Comprehension and understanding of the material was assessed via a 10 question examination administered by a BCBA. Once therapists demonstrated competency on the examination they were directed to perform both a mock session-based functional analysis and a mock trial-based functional analysis using adult actors as clients. Further training was later conducted on both methodologies to address procedural integrity issues. A comparison was then performed by assessing procedural integrity and social validity measures across the different functional analysis methodologies. Results of the study hope to indicate the feasibility of direct care therapists using either session-based or trial-based functional analyses with strong procedural integrity.

Observational learning has been defined as learning that results from observing the responding of others and/or the consequences of such responding (Catania, 1998). To date, limited research has explored procedures for teaching children with autism to discriminate the consequences of others' responses as a means of facilitating observational learning. In the present study, we are assessing the extent to which children with autism can learn to match the responses modeled by others that were followed by reinforcing consequences and to refrain from engaging in responses modeled by others that were followed by extinction. During baseline, participants are exposed to another person receiving reinforcement for correct word labels and the withholding of reinforcement for incorrect responses. Acquisition of the correct word labels is measured following these exposure sessions and summarized as the percentage of responses that matched the model. If, during baseline, the participants simply match the responses of the model regardless of consequences, discrimination training will be conducted across participants to teach engagement in the responses of the model that were followed by reinforcement. However, if the participants match only the word labels modeled that were followed by reinforcement and not the labels that were followed by extinction, it may be argued that exposure alone is enough to increase observational learning repertoires and discrimination training might not be required.

Not many studies have been conducted to test the effectiveness of a parent training program for mothers of children with severe problem behaviors in Korea. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a behavioral parent training (BPT) in Korea. Participants were 77 mothers of children with severe problem behaviors whose mean age was 39.23. Their children aged from 2 to 18 (M=8.43; 58 boys and 19 girls). The BPT was conducted in a small group format (e.g., 5-7) for 12 weeks. Mothers were taught basic behavior principles along with specific knowledge dealing with their child’s problem behaviors. 6 self-report scales were administered to mothers before and after the training. The results showed that there were significant differences in the pre-post scores of 3 out of 6 scales; after training, mothers’ efficacy and knowledge for behavior principles were improved and parenting stress was reduced. Data was also divided into two groups to find out factors influencing the effectiveness. It was found that preschooler’s mothers showed significant changes in scores of pre and post Behavior Vignettes Test. Also, mothers with either high level of depression or parenting stress demonstrated increased mother’s efficacy. Implications and limitations were discussed.

Research in the field of social skills training indicates the importance of teaching new skills through the use ofapplied behavior analysisand facilitating skill generalization by providing opportunities to practice skills outside of the treatment setting. However, researchers have not yet investigated the impact of an additional behavioral-focused education component. This study examined the effectiveness of a behavioral parent training program for 23 parents of 8-to 12-year-old children with developmental disabilities and disruptive behaviors. The curriculum developed for the Learning Effective Approaches to Developing Social Skills program consists of8 weekly 1.5 hour classes that focus on a specific behavioral principle (e.g., reinforcement, social skills generalization) and are followed by parent-child role-playing opportunities. Findings indicated that participation in the program was associated with a statistically significant increase of knowledge of behavioral principles and improvement on parent ratings of social skills. Differences were not identified on parent levels of stress or improvements in problem behaviors. Parents also reported very high satisfaction with the program. Further research investigating this additional education component may lead to improved social skills training and technique identification, which continue to be identified as gaps in the current research.

This poster session will provide information and data to support the efficacy of the Focus Family Support for Autism Spectrum Disorders (FFSASD) model of the Illinois Autism Training and Technical Assistance Project (IATTAP). This process employs an applied evaluation method that emphasizes user-friendly, data-driven decision making to improve outcomes for families with children with ASD. IATTAP is a technical assistance project of the Illinois State Board of Education that focuses on educating and supporting children with ASD and their families. Over the past 7 years, IATTAP provided support and services to over 180 families throughout the state of Illinois through its FFSASD process, a combination of positive behavior supports and family-centered planning. The families are enrolled in the Systematic Information Management of Education Outcomes (SIMEO) online evaluation system for extensive tracking of demographic, educational, social, behavioral, and quality of life outcomes. The poster session will present the continued findings from the repeated measures applied evaluation process and how these data are used by the Focus Family Facilitators to drive decision making and change in team meetings with families of children with ASD. Fiscal Year 2011 IATTAP evaluation findings include: (a) decrease in loss of placement risk across home, school and community environments; (b) increase in daily living and other adaptive skills; (c) increase in school classroom functioning; (d) decrease in individual family stressors; and (e) increase in family quality of life.

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) are well documented in parents of children diagnosed with chronic disabilities and life-threatening illnesses. The occurrence of PTSS in parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has not been directly linked, only mentioned without data supporting the claim. This research examined PTSS in parents of children with ASD. The findings validate PTSS in a subpopulation (20%) of parents. These findings document a need for behavior analysts to recognize the degree of psychological impact/ distress in parents resulting from their childs diagnosis of ASD. Awareness of parental PTSS, will help ensure the behavior analysts take necessary steps to see that the parents/ childs caretakers are healthy and that the childs access to treatment is not compromised due to parental stress.

There are a number of different safety threats that children face in their lives. One infrequent, but highly dangerous situation a child can face is finding a loaded firearm. Hundreds of children are injured or killed each year when they find and play with firearms. Fortunately, behavioral skills training (BST) and in situ training (IST) have been shown to be effective approaches for teaching a number of different skills, including safety skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a teaching package for preschool teachers to learn to conduct BST to teach safety skills to prevent gun play. A multiple baseline across subjects design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of this teaching package implemented by the teacher with7 preschoolers. In situ training was implemented by the researchers when BST implemented by the teacher was ineffective. Five children demonstrated the skills following in situ training and additional reinforcement or time-out. Two children did not complete the study.

Errorless Compliance Training (ECT) (Ducharme, 1996) was developed as a nonaversive alternative approach to traditional compliance training and is rarely seen in New Zealand (NZ). ECT was used with 5 children with special needs and implemented by the researcher and teacher aids in NZ homes and schools using a reversal design with generalisation probes. The procedure was effective with 3 of the 5 children and both inter-observer reliability and implementation integrity was good. There were struggles with teacher aides implementing the procedure correctly for the other 2 children. The results suggest that the procedure may be effective in a NZ context so long as those implementing it are trained appropriately and have adequate time and resources.

The purpose of the current investigation was to evaluate the use of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) for decreasing stereotypy maintained by automatic reinforcement in a 9 year-old girl diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder and an intellectual disability. The target behavior was closing her legs to hypothetically stimulate the genital area, which severely limited her adaptive development because it occurred even while walking. During Phase 1, a functional analysis was conducted within a multielement design and the undifferentiated results suggested that behavior was maintained by automatic reinforcement. In Phase 2, a whole interval DRO procedure was implemented within a reversal design. We provided access to a preferred item contingent on the absence of target behavior for a prespecified amount of time. Results demonstrated the DRO procedure to be effective in reducing problem behavior to zero. Interobserver agreement for the target behavior was collected on 14% of the functional analysis sessions and averaged 99%. During the DRO, interobserver agreement for the target behavior was collected on 51% of trails and averaged 99%.

This study investigated the use of unit price (UP) to evaluate a participant's preference for completing easy or difficult academic demands. The participant was referred to a behavioral outpatient clinic to address noncompliance when given easy academic demands. Interobserver agreement was calculated across 86% of all sessions and averaged 100%. This study was carried out in 2 phases. In Phase 1, a functional analysis of problem behavior was conducted to assess the antecedents likely to evoke problem behavior and the consequences that maintain problem behavior. There was no problem behavior recorded during the functional analysis. During Phase 2, in a concurrent operants design, the participant was presented with easy and hard academic demands at varying UPs. After establishing a preference for easy demands, the UP to complete these demands was systematically increased to a UP of 2. When the UP to complete the easy academic demands was increased, the participant chose to complete the hard academic demand. Results suggested that the participant's preference for completing a lower quantity of work was more important than completing more difficult academic demands. These findings suggest that a similar evaluation could be effective in identifying student's preferences for academic demands in a classroom setting.

Wrap-around video eyewear has shown promise as a distraction device for reducing distress during some medical procedures. This study evaluated video eyewear with children undergoing restorative dental treatment. Participants ranging in age from 5–16 were recruited from a continuous sample of patients seen in an urban dental clinic. Direct observations of distress, self-report measures of pain, and patient satisfaction were obtained in a randomized clinical trial comparing wrap-around video eyewear and sunglasses. ANCOVA, using treatment condition (control vs. experimental) as the primary independent variable and controlling for the effects of age, found that children wearing the video eyewear glasses demonstrated significantly less disruptive behavior than those in the control group (p < .01) and that they liked their eyewear significantly better than those wearing the regular sunglasses (p < .01). Results suggest that wrap-around video eyewear can be a relatively cost-effective approach to managing distress in children undergoing restorative dental treatment.

Relatively few studies have evaluated behavioral interventions aimed at increasing activity levels of sedentary or obese children. Crucial to this line of research is the development of reliable and valid measures of activity. In this study, children ages 4-14 engaged in various structured and unstructured activities for up to 30 minutes and their activity levels were simultaneously recorded via several methods. Number of steps taken was assessed using two devices: Fitbit Trackers� and low cost pedometers. In addition, data on the types of activities and relative effort were collected via direct observation. The reliability of multiple Fitbits� and pedometers was assessed, as was correspondence between all measures of activity. The results indicated high levels of reliability across Fitbits�, and good correspondence between Fitbits� and direct observation. Reliability across pedometers was low, and correspondence between pedometers and the other measures of activity was low. These results suggest that Fitbits� or direct observation may be preferred to assess activity levels in children; however, both are costly with regard to time and money. While lower cost pedometers were found to be unreliable in this evaluation, additional research is needed to determine if pedometers may suffice to provide feedback and motivation.

Poor chewing skills are commonly displayed by children diagnosed with feeding disorders. Deficits in chewing may prevent a child from consuming table-textured foods, significantly increase meal-length, or result in packing and an increased risk of choking. Few studies have evaluated behavioral interventions to increase chewing in children with feeding disorders and these studies lacked convincing demonstrations of experimental control (Eckman et al., 2008; Butterfield & Parson, 1973; Shore, LeBlanc, & Simmons, 1999). In addition, no studies to our knowledge have included a measure to determine if chewing resulted in masticated food. We examined the effectiveness of a descriptive prompt and descriptive praise on increasing chewing in a 14-year-old male diagnosed with a feeding disorder and we included a measure of mastication. The chewing intervention was effective in increasing chews per bite and mastication for this participant. This is the first investigation to evaluate a childs chewing skills after treatment by determining whether increases in observable chewing resulted in masticated food or more functional chewing skills.

Packing, pocketing or holding accepted food in the mouth, is one problematic behavior exhibited by children with feeding disorders. Investigators have used blending to decrease packing and increase consumption of solid food (Mueller, Piazza, Patel, Kelley & Pruett, 2004). For example, the blending procedure described by Mueller et al. (2004) consisted of mixing (blending) preferred and nonpreferred foods and then gradually increasing the ratio of nonpreferred to preferred food. Levels of packing were low throughout the blending procedure and postblending when the feeder presented the nonpreferred food in the absence of the preferred food. Mueller et al. (2004) identified at least one preferred food that each child would swallow consistently (e.g., applesauce) and blended that/those food(s) with nonpreferred foods that each child would pack consistently (e.g., peas). In the current investigation, we identified a child who swallowed liquids, but not solids. Therefore, we replicated and extended the procedure described by Mueller et al. (2004) by blending liquids and solids. Liquids-to-solid fading, in conjunction with a function-based treatment of escape extinction, attention extinction, and noncontingent reinforcement, and a chin prompt to reduce expulsions was effective in decreasing packing and increasing consumption.

Variations of behavior skills training (BST) packages have been used to teach behaviorally oriented skills such as DDT with parents (Lafaskis & Sturmey, 2007), guided compliance (Miles & Wilder, 2009), the implementation of the picture exchange system (Rosales et al. 2009) and assisting students to walk with physical disabilities (Nabeyama & Sturmey, 2010). One area that has not received much attention is evaluating staff’s correct implementation of a behavior intervention plan (BIP). In the current investigation,we evaluated the use of BST to teach instructional staff in a special education setting how to correctly implement components of 2 student’s BIPs. A multiple baseline across 4 staff-student dyads was used. Training consisted of 2 different phases; verbal instructions and modeling and rehearsal of the procedures. Data was collected on staff’s correct implementation of 3 main components of the student’s BIPs. Components for student A were non-contingent reinforcement (NCR), differential reinforcement for alternative behavior (DRA), and planned ignoring. Components for student B were signaled availability and unavailability, DRA and planned ignoring. Results indicated that BST was effective at teaching staff components of BIPs and that all staff’s correct implementation improved as a function of the training that was provided.

Fading is a common intervention used in the treatment of pediatric feeding disorders (e.g., distance fading, Rivas, Piazza, Patel & Bachmeyer, 2010; liquid quality, Patel, Piazza, Ochsner, & Santana, 2001; and texture, Shore et al., 1998). To date, the only form of utensil fading implemented in the treatment of pediatric feeding disorders is spoon-to-cup fading (Babbitt et al., 2001; Groff, Piazza, Zeleny, & Dempsey, In Press.) The current investigation expands the area of utensil fading by assessing the effectiveness of syringe-to-cup and syringe-to-spoon fading in increasing acceptance and mouth cleans in a 4-year-old boy diagnosed with food refusal and gastrostomy (G-) tube dependence. Following a functional analysis of inappropriate mealtime behavior, fading was implemented in conjunction with the function based treatment of escape extinction. The treatment package of fading and extinction was effective in increasing acceptance and mouth cleans of liquids and solids. The current investigation contributes to the fading literature by providing a novel example of utensil fading in the treatment of pediatric feeding disorders.

As residential providers for adults with disabilities strive to attain the ideal of normalization and provide person-centered supports in community settings, they face many challenges. One such challenge is training direct support staffs to recognize and respect the rights of adults with disabilities. This research was designed to evaluate the effects of Part 1 of a 2-part Human Rights Training on staff's knowledge of adult client's rights. The training included discussion of (1) personal experiences of individuals with intellectual disabilities; (2) national, state, and agency regulations; and (3) research establishing the impact of social pressure(s) on a person's behavior. Moreover, the training included opportunities for direct support staffs to practice recognizing a person's rights and making least-restrictive, most inclusive decisions. In 1 group, the average learning gain from pre-test to post-test was 26% (ranging from 8% to 46%). Similar results were obtained across training sessions in multiple training sites across 2 states.

The Office of Sustainability and Associated Student Body developed and implemented a Share the Road campaigned which aimed to promote safety awareness for all users of the road. For one week at the student union, people signed pledges to share the road with others and received information on how to increase their safety. Pledges have been found increase pedestrian safety (Boyce & Geller, 2000), but there is no published evidence to date about using such pledges in bike safety campaigns. The campaign also included various public service announcements and stories in local media. Observers recorded a number of key safety behaviors of bicyclists at a busy intersection on campus for 4 weeks prior to the intervention for the remainder of the semester (10 weeks). Safe behaviors included riding in the correct lane, stopping at the stop sign at the intersection and wearing a helmet. Unsafe behaviors included riding in the wrong lane, riding on the sidewalk, running the stop sign, and talking on the phone while riding.

The average lifespan and proportion of aging individuals in the United States is growing, with a projected 25-30% of the population 60 years old or older in 2030 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005). Aging is a typical developmental process, which can produce a continuum of normative to pathological cognitive and physiological processes. Dementia, a disorder often associated with aging, is characterized by memory, cognitive, and functional impairments. Because dementia often affecting areas of language, thought, memory, executive functioning, judgment, attention, perception, and daily living skills, it has tremendous implications for peoples quality of life, eliciting great personal, familial, systemic, and societal costs. Maintaining cognitive health may be the tipping point between living independently or relying on a caretaker and/or receiving costly institutional care (CDC & Alzheimers Association, 2007). Pharmacological and behavioral interventions appear to be effective in promoting stabilization or slowing the disease process. Symptomatic behaviors of dementia (e.g., medication management and compliance, public masturbation, falling, wandering, vocalizations) are ideal targets for effecting socially significant change using behaviorally-based interventions. This poster will review the use of behavioral methods in the elderly population with dementia and provide recommendations for future research avenues and clinical applications.

The first step in identifying behavioral function related to problem behavior is the implementation of an anecdotal assessment. A number of structured assessments have been developed (e.g., MAS, QABF, FAST, etc.). One common problem has been their poor reliability and validity. In an effort to overcome these limitations, the Indirect Functional Assessment was developed utilizing psychometric methodologies and evaluated in an analog analysis (Christensen et al., 2002). However, up until now it had not been evaluated in practice. In the current study, graduate students enrolled in a fieldwork class participated. One of the requirements for the class is to complete a Functional Behavioral Assessment utilizing2 indirect assessments across2 informants, a descriptive assessment, and a functional analysis. Both reliability and validity analyses were conducted across these assessments. Results demonstrate high inter-rater reliability of the IFA, strong reliability with the FAST, good reliability with the descriptive assessment, and strong validity as measured by agreement of function with the functional analysis. Implications and future directions will be discussed.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects that specific types of demands had on escape maintained problem behavior. The participant was a 7-year-old male diagnosed with Charge syndrome. His primary communication was sign language with emerging vocal communication. All procedures were conducted in an outpatient clinic. Interobserver agreement was assessed across 38% of sessions and averaged 94%. During Phase 1, a brief functional analysis, was conducted within a multielement design. Results (Figure 1, left panel) suggested that problem behavior was maintained by negative reinforcement. During Phase 2, an antecedent analysis was conducted within a multielement design to evaluate specific conditions that occasioned problem behavior during demands. Conditions included demand with dictation, demand with copying, and demand with copying and guided compliance. Results (right panel) showed that high levels of problem behavior occurred during both demand with copying conditions and problem behavior occurred at zero or near zero levels during the demand with dictation condition. These results suggested that specific antecedent variables altered the participant's motivation to engage in problem behavior during demands. Blending functional and antecedent analyses may prove useful in determining variables that occasion or reduce problem behavior maintained by specific types of demands.

Functional analyses [FA; Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994)] are conducted to identify environmental variables that maintain aberrant behavior. Current literature supports the use of a fixed sequence of conditions in a multi-element FA (Iwata, Pace et al., 1994; Hammond, Iwata, Rooker, Fritz, & Bloom, 2011) in order to enhance establishing operations (EO) by taking advantage of preceding conditions. Specifically, experiencing the demand condition following the toy play condition may make escape from demands more reinforcing. However, it is possible that elevated rates of problem behavior may occur in a demand condition if an individual exhibits problem behavior maintained by positive reinforcement in the form of access to tangibles. Removal of tangibles following the toy play condition may occasion problem behavior in the demand condition. We conducted a multi-element FA to identify environmental variables that maintained one individuals problem behavior (SIB and aggression). Rates of problem behavior were elevated and undifferentiated across test conditions. A within-session analysis of problem behavior during the demand condition suggested that problem behavior was unrelated to the presentation or removal of demands. The purpose of the current investigation was to isolate the variables that produced elevated levels of problem behavior in the demand condition of an FA. Further manipulations following a multielement design determined that the individuals problem behavior was not maintained by negative reinforcement in the form of escape from demands. Rather, the individuals problem behavior in demand contexts was associated with loss of positive reinforcers (e.g., rich to lean schedule of reinforcement; Williams, 2011)

This study examined the effect of video modeling from acquisition of the card game rule. The participant was a 7-year-old child with autism. He was a second grader in an elementary school, and studies in the special support class. The card games that to teach a rule were a "Concentration" and "Baba-Nuki (Japanese Old Fish)". Target behavior was defined as appropriate card game performance (ex. Two cards are turned over. It will get, if a mark is the same. An one-sheet card is got from a partner). This study consisted of 4 phases: a baseline, Intervention 1, Intervention 2, and a probe. In the baseline, the patient played two kinds of card games with the experimenter. Before playing a card game, the manual that consisted of a photograph and a text was used in the Intervention 1. In the Intervention 2, the video modeling procedure that is playing the card game was used. The probe was conducted to the same conditions asthe baseline. The result—target behavior increased by the manual and video modeling. Therefore, it was suggested that a manual and video modeling are effective for acquisition of a card game rule. Especially, video modeling saw the increase in target behavior. The present study discussed the difference of the behavior chain of the manual and video modeling.

It can be difficult to determine the function of problem behavior when behavior persists at low and variable levels during functional analyses. One dimension of the response that may be useful in these cases is the latency from the onset of a stimulus, such as the beginning of a session, to the first response (Thomason-Sassi, Iwata, Neidert, & Roscoe, 2011). In the current study, a functional analysis was conducted for a child who engaged in severe problem behavior. After observing low levels of problem behavior in the initial functional analysis, a functional analysis based on latency measures was initiated. All sessions were terminated immediately after the delivery of the consequence for problem behavior during the test conditions or 1 minute after the occurrence of problem behavior in the toy play condition. Results from the latency functional analysis showed that problem behavior was multiply maintained by positive and negative reinforcement.

Social referencing is defined as a process of using other person's conception for one's own understanding of a situation (Feinman, 1983). However, only a few studies have been conducted to teach social referencing to children with developmental disabilities (exclusively autism) and these studies did not address the effects of whether the situation was ambiguous or not. The current study was conducted as a preliminary investigation targeting children with autism who often lack social referencing. A boy with pervasive developmental disorder participated who was reported to look at his mother's face when he was not sure of correct responses during discrete trial training. He was trained (a) to open a can and get a token if the experimenter smiled, and (b) not to open the can but to put it in a box when the experimenter grimaced. After he learned to exhibit social referencing, the can was replaced with a transparent box (i.e. simulating a nonambiguous situation) that did not require referencing for correct responding. Accordingly, the rate of referencing slightly went down, indicating the possibly of stimulus control of referencing. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of behavioral conception of social referencing (Gewirtz & Peláez-Nogueras, 1992).

When children have multiple functions maintaining problem behavior, it can be extremely difficult to develop a treatment that addresses each one, particularly when those functions can result in competing forms of reinforcement. In this study, an adolescent female with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities living on an inpatient unit participated. A functional analysis was completed and the results indicated that her problem behaviors were sensitive to escape from demands as a maintaining consequence. A mands assessment was also completed which indicated that interacting with adult caregivers in her preferred manner of play was also a maintaining variable for her problem behaviors. Treatment involved systematically increasing the number of demands placed on her while earning time that she could engage with the therapist in her preferred manner of play. A card was used to signal when it was the child's way or the therapist's Way. Escape extinction was in place for all problem behaviors. The amount of time spent in therapist's way was faded so that time completing demands was equal to time the participant had "her way." Treatment was generalized throughout the child's day on the unit and then to her home with her mother serving as therapist.

Peer support strategies provide general education peers with training to support their classmates with disabilities to engage in class activities and socially interact with classmates. This study presents data from an ongoing randomized control trial examining the effectiveness of peer support strategies and peer networks for high school students with disabilities. The data presented shows the number of interactions with general education peers observed in the classroom prior to and near the end of implementation of the peer support strategies. Initiations and responses by general education peers to the focus student with disabilities and vice versa were recorded during three class-length observations before beginning intervention and three class-length observations following intervention. Peer comparison data was also collected during both waves. In addition to data on interactions, observation data was also collected on instructional format in the classroom, proximity to peers and direct support staff, and engagement in class activities. Preliminary results suggest that peer supports strategies led to significantly more peer interactions for students with disabilities.

Functional analyses (Iwata et al., 1982/1994) have become standard of care for the empirical assessment of common environmental events that may maintain the maladaptive behavior of those diagnosed with intellectual disabilities. However, if these contingencies do not naturally exist, exposure to immediately dense schedules of relative consequences in each condition may adventitiously establish a relation. The participant was an 11-year-old boy with an intellectual disability who was admitted to an inpatient unit for the assessment and treatment of severe problem behaviors. Multiple functional analyses were conducted for each topography (i.e., self-injury, disruption, aggression, spitting). High and stable rates of problem behavior occurred immediately in the attention condition across response topographies suggesting a clear functional response class maintained by attention. However, rates of aggression and spitting had a slow increase in the demand conditions. Within-session and probability analyses suggest that low rates of idiosyncratic response variability of the target problem behavior during the initial demand conditions could have adventitiously contacted negative reinforcement, slowly strengthening the novel relation.

Peer network strategies include identifying a group of general education students who will meet weekly with a student with a disability and interact with the student throughout the week in the hallways, lunchroom, and outside of school. This study presents data from an ongoing randomized control trial examining the effectiveness of peer networks and peer support strategies for high school students with disabilities. The data presented shows the number of weekly interactions with peers reported by students during implementation of the peer network and the data from pre- and post-intervention teacher questionnaires on the number of peers with whom each student with a disability interacts and the frequency of these interactions. Additionally, teachers provided information about how long the students have known the peers with whom they interact and whether or not this peer also has a disability. Preliminary results suggest that peer networks led students with disabilities to have more interactions with general education peers at school.

When completing task work, students' off-task behavior is often maintained by attention from staff who are attempting to redirect students back to task. Fisher et al. (1996) showed that verbal statements from staff were highly reinforcing for students who engaged in destructive behavior. Therefore, it is important to eliminate attention for maladaptive behaviors and provide attention for replacement behaviors. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of verbal versus visual prompting on the off-task behavior of a 17-year-old student with Asperger syndrome. A functional behavior assessment was conducted and conditional probabilities were calculated. The results indicated that the student was much more likely to receive attention when he was off-task (82% of intervals) than when he was on-task (6% of intervals). Using an alternating treatments design, verbal prompting, in which the student received verbal attention contingent on off-task behavior, and visual prompting, in which the student was prompted using a point cue and earned high quality verbal attention upon completion of the task, were compared. Initial results indicate that the number of prompts needed for this student to stay on task was lower in the visual prompting condition. Implications of these results and limitations will be discussed.

This study determined the effects of two kinds of visual supports, visual schedules and Social Stories TM, on students' latency time in making classroom transitions for three children in a general education kindergarten. During the first intervention, the participants were provided with visual picture schedules, showing pictures of each step they needed to complete to transition promptly from one activity to another. During the second intervention, a Social Story TM visual support was used. The Social Story TM had words and pictures about how transitions should be done, when they should be done, how a student could get help, how the teacher would feel, and how the student would feel when transitioning successfully. The average latency for a kindergarten with appropriate responding increased only slightly with the visual supports, while the average latencies for 2 students with problematic, long responses to transitions decreased substantially under both the visual schedule and the Social Story TM conditions. Overall both interventions were effective in reducing latencies with students who demonstrated long latencies, but may have increased slightly the latency for a student who was already performing well.

The purpose of this study was to decrease the frequency of teasing by a 16-year-old male diagnosed with Down syndrome. This participant attends a residential school for students with developmental disabilities and resides with 7 other males. At baseline, the student engaged in high rates of teasing per day and targeted both staff members and the other students. A functional behavior assessment (FBA) was conducted and results indicated that the student received attention from students or staff members following 72% of teasing occurrences, suggesting that teasing was maintained by verbal attention. The FBA also indicated that the student was ignored following the other 27% of teasing occurrences. Using a reversal design, the student will have an opportunity to earn access to teasing contingent on the absence of teasing throughout his day. The student will be able to choose from a variety of staff members and students whom he can tease for a set amount of time, during which his chosen target will provide verbal attention to his teasing. Results, implications, limitations, and future research will be discussed.

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with molecular genetic defects and is characterized by a virtual absence of speech, language disorder, abnormal gait, coordination difficulties, happy demeanor, tongue protrusion, and seizure disorder. Among 23 studies identified by a systematic review of 3 electronic databases, only 2 involved communication interventions for individuals with AS (Calculator, 2002; Strachan et al., 2009; Summers & Szatmari, 2009). Given the severity of communication impairments associated with AS, there is a paucity of studies on communication interventions. The purpose of the present study was to compare the acquisition and use of 3 modes of communication (gestural, graphic and vocal) in 1 21-month-old with AS. A single subject alternating treatment design was utilized with discrete trial training to teach communicative behavior in terms of a production task for each mode of communication. Results suggest that graphic and gestural modes were superior to vocal mode for this toddler. Graphic was the most accurate across a comparison of 3 specific symbols, but a general gesture was superior to a specific graphic symbol. The current findings support the research indicating that individuals with AS can use more than 1 communicative mode and highlights the limitations in using vocal mode for these individuals. Future research, at a minimum, should explore the role of specific versus general symbols with this population and seek predictors of success in a communication mode.

Functional assessment is a common method of identifying variables maintaining challenging behavior. In a review of the literature on functional analysis, Hanley, Iwata,and McCord (2003) suggested that, although published functional analyses tended to show certain relationships between topography and function (e.g., stereotypy was most frequently maintained by automatic reinforcement), in general, "function cannot be predicted by topography." However, their conclusion is limited by the fact that it is based upon a review of published studies, which may introduce certain biases. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between function identified by Questions About Behavioral Function (QABF; an indirect functional assessment) and the topography of challenging behavior. To date, 24 children and adolescents with developmental disabilities have served as participants yielding 43 total challenging behaviors. Kruskal Wallis tests of significance were conducted and preliminary results indicated that there were no significant differences among topographies of challenging behavior (i.e., self-injury, aggression, disruption) on function (i.e., attention, escape, tangible, nonsocial, physical). Thus, preliminary results support the conclusion of Hanley et al. that topography of challenging behavior is not a good predictor of function.

One of the hallmark symptoms of Asperger syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) is the impairment in the development of social interaction skills. Social skills deficits include difficulties to maintain conversation with friends and impairments in the use of nonverbal behaviors, such as eye contacts, body postures. This study examined the effectiveness of a social skill intervention for individual targeting greeting, presentation skill, and initiating and responding to interactions with seven elementary-aged children with AS and HFA. They were assessed with pre-treatment and post treatment measures on Social Skills Improvement System(SSIS), The Matson Evaluation of Social Skill with Youngsters, and direct observation. In a baseline session, childrens target behaviors were observed. During the intervention, children were designed to take video monitoring and role-playing with adults. A multiple baseline design across behaviors was used for the present study. Results indicated that children have difficulties of facial expression while body posture in the greeting, and in the conversation, they have difficulties of maintaining the conversation. The video modeling intervention was effective in improving nonverbal behavior in greeting and conversation skills. Future research is required to test the durability of treatment.

Medical procedures are often invasive and frightening for children and can lead to a variety of avoidant behaviors (Slifer, Avis, & Frutchey, 2008; DeMore, Cataldo, Tierney, & Slifer, 2009). Most studies have focused on teaching children with mild disruptive or avoidant behavior (Allen & Stokes, 1987; Shabani & Fisher, 2006), but not children who engage in severe problem behavior. The purpose of the current investigation was to teach a child with developmental disabilities who had a history of severe problem behavior to complete an ambulatory EEG by increasing tolerance of the equipment and decreasing problem behavior related to the procedure. Treatment to reduce problem behavior consisted of functional communication, a multiple schedule, and an overcorrection procedure. Training consisted of fading in the EEG equipment by first, placing a hat and a fanny pack with weights on Albert for one day and then wires and gauze were added. Through training, the number of times Albert attempted to touch the equipment decreased and the 48-hour EEG was successfully completed. While Albert did touch the equipment more frequently during the 48-hour EEG, he only removed two wires, which were reattached. With this treatment, valid results were obtained with Albert for the first time.

The current study extended the literature on resurgence by demonstrating the phenomenon with a novel response in the form of appropriate communication in individuals with developmental disabilities. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the conditions under which resurgence of appropriate communicative responses (mands) would occur with children with developmental disabilities. The experimental preparation consisted of a sequence of conditions that included (a) the reinforcement of1 mand (i.e., microswitch activation or card exchange) on a fixed ratio 1 schedule, (b) an extinction condition in which the mand was no longer reinforced, (c) the reinforcement of a second mand (i.e., microswitch activation or card exchange) on a fixed ratio 1 schedule, and (d) a test for resurgence of the first mand, which consisted of placing the second mand on extinction. Interobserver agreement was collected during 33% of sessions and agreement averaged at least 95% across participants. The results demonstrated resurgence of mands during2 out of3 tests for resurgence for one participant. Resurgence of mands was demonstrated during all three tests for resurgence with the second participant. These results have clinical implications in that they represent a potential model for preventing behavioral lapses during challenges to treatment.

A common index of response strength used in the assessment and treatment of problem behavior is rate of responding (e.g., Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1994). However, repeated occurrences of a problem behavior during a session may be either impractical or unsafe such as in the case of vomiting, elopement, or severe forms of self-injurious behavior. One area that has received increasing attention in applied literature is the use of response latency during assessments (e.g., Call, Pabico, & Lomas, 2009; Zarcone, Crosland, Fisher, Worsdell, & Herman, 1999). In a recent study, Thomason-Sassi, Iwata, Neidhart, & Roscoe (2011) demonstrated the utility of response latency during functional analysis of severe problem behavior. The purpose of the current study was to extend research on the use of latency measures as an index of response strength during assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior. During the functional analysis, latency to the occurrence of self-injurious behavior was used as the primary measure. Both latency and rate of responding were measured during the subsequent functional communication training analysis.

In the present study, we analyzed the relationship between choice behaviors, preference, and eye movements by using Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and eye tracking system. On the trial of the IRAP, participants were presented with one of two attribute stimuli (Like or Dislike), one of target stimulus pictures of tasty thing (e.g., Coffee and Tea), and two relational terms, Agree and Disagree as response options. Participants were required to respond as quickly and accurately as possible across two experimental conditions, consistent and inconsistent. In the consistent condition, if participants like coffee better than tea, participants required to choose Agree during the presence of Like and Coffee stimuli. In the inconsistent condition, participants were required to choose Disagree in the presence of Like and Coffee stimuli even though they like coffee better. Eye movements during choosing response were recorded by using eye tracking system. As a result, mean latencies and eye movement pattern were different between two conditions. In inconsistent condition, mean latencies were longer and participants looked at the picture more frequently than in consistent condition. And some typical visual search patterns were observed in both conditions. The relationship between choice behaviors, preference, and eye movements were discussed.

The decrease in reinforcer value following an increased delay to its presentation has been frequently described as delay discounting. Despite the rich literature examining effects of environmental and biological manipulations on discounting of reinforcers, comparatively little work has been done to evaluate the discounting of aversive events. In the present study, college students (N = 42) made a series of choices between a single 0.5-s electric shock delivered after 1 s and3 0.5-s shocks delivered after an increasing delay (1 s to 120 s). In a single experimental session, the delays to the3 shocks systematically increased across blocks of trials that included a forced-choice trial (in which the participant was required to select the 3-shock alternative) and 6 free-choice trials (in which the participant could choose between receiving the single shock or3 shocks. Of the 42 participants, 13 never selected the three-shock alternative during the free-choice trials. Of those who did sample the 3-shock alternative, on average across delay values, participants selected the three shocks on approximately 33% of the trials, with no effect of delay observed. Although delay discounting was not observed in the present paradigm, possible extensions and procedural modifications are discussed.

One member of each pair of 42 undergraduates, referred to as a learner, was escorted into a standard human operant laboratory. He/she was asked to earn points exchangeable for money and told that touching a squire shown on the screen of the display monitor may or may not produce points. Unlike standard operant experiments, increasing and decreasing points were not determined by any computer program but by key pressing of another experimentally naive undergraduate, referred to as an instructor. Response rates for 12 of 21 learners were higher than their yoked participants who were given and lost points independent from their responding.

Self-control can be defined as the choice of a larger, more delayed reinforcer over a smaller, less delayed reinforcer, and impulsiveness as the opposite. Previous experiments have shown that type or quality of reinforcer used affects self-control in humans. The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate the effects of qualitatively different reinforcers on the self-control of adult human females. Specifically, in a within-subjects design, participants made choices for two consumable-type reinforcers: food (preferred fruit juice) and video entertainment (preferred cartoon). A new methodology, designed to be similar to the self-control paradigm for delivering food, was used for the delivery of the cartoons. Aspects of the procedure were varied as well. The results have implications for previous research findings of differences in self-control as a function of reinforcer differences. The results are also discussed with respect to their implications for categories of reinforcement and suggest that video entertainment (cartoons) may be considered in the same class of reinforcers as food (i.e., primary, or consumable reinforcers).

In the researches of Relational Frame Theory, the derived stimulus relations are established by two types of training procedures; one is the relational training, and the other is relational evaluation procedure. Although both of procedures involve presenting the stimuli which represent the specific relations, they differ in the way how they use such stimuli. Relational training treats such stimuli as the relational contextual cues; on the other hand, the relational evaluation procedure treats them as the response options (i.e., comparison stimulus). The aim of present study was to compare the effects of two training procedure on establishing the derived stimulus relations. Thirteen undergraduate students completed the similar/opposite relational training. And another thirteen students were exposed to the similar/opposite relational evaluation procedure. Both of the procedures were designed to establish two 2-member stimulus classes which one class was opposite to the other. The result revealed that there were no differences in the effect of two training procedures. In the group of the relational training, 11 out of 13 participants showed the derived stimulus relation in their test phase. On the other hand, all participants who were exposed to the relational evaluation procedure achieved the criterion in the test phase.

The current study attempted to investigate syntax written construction in the Japanese language under the perspective of equivalence class formation and multiple exemplars training. First, three classes of four stimuli each were formed for two college students: subject, complement and verb with matching-to-sample tasks. Next, in modified constructed-response matching-to-sample task (CRMTS), the participants learned to put the sequence A1A2A3 together from a pool of three words each corresponding to a position in the sequence to match the written sequence as sample stimulus. Next, linear tests for the three remaining sequences were conducted. Finally, tests for the emergence of the sequence construction using words which did not participate in the equivalence class formation procedure were introduced. Considering the abstract nature of the stimuli for the participants, it is discussed why sequence behavior was shown for the non-trained stimuli: physical similarity for one specific group of words (verbs) can be considered, but also that categorization within classes and sequence per se are possibly two overarching operants which enabled the results in the final tests.

This study investigated the effects of contextual control over recombined conditional relations. Ten undergraduate students participated in the study. Relations A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 were taught with abstract stimuli presented against a blue blackground for half the participants, and relations A1B3, A2B1, A3B2 against a red blackground for the other half. Then, the relationships were reversed and taught for both groups. Next, AB trials were presented under extinction in the presence of the blue background, followed by red background for one group of participants, and in the opposite order for the other group. The results showed that the procedure yielded both contextual control and failure to show it. Further training consisted of presenting original and recombined AB relations against, respectively, red and blue background colors, randomly interspersed. The final phase consisted of AB and BA test trials under extinction with blue or red background colors for the first and second trial blocks, respectively, for each of the participant groups, and a neutral color (green) in the final trial block. The latter procedure yielded more accurate contextual control for most of the participants. The participants also learned to perform contextually under the green background color.

Simultaneous protocols typically yield poorer stimulus equivalence outcomes than other protocols common used in equivalence research. Fourteen participants worked with 2independent groups of 3 3-member equivalence classes in 2 conditions, 1 using the standard simultaneous protocol and the other using a hybrid simultaneous training and simple-to-complex testing. Stimulus-sets used for these conditions in previous studies (Imam, 2011; Warner & Imam, 2008) were randomized. Although there was no consistent difference in time taken to complete blocks, participants achieved better accuracy and positive percent change in accuracy in the hybrid than the standard protocols. The results implicate test order rather than stimulus sets as significant factors in the differential effects on accuracy and equivalence yields.

We evaluated the role of errorless discrimination training and error correction procedures in the establishment of baseline conditional relations and equivalence class formation in elementary school children. Participants were 26 children, 11 female and 15 male, aged 6 to 7 years old; they were randomly assigned to one of six experimental conditions: A, C, and E without errorless learning procedures, B, D, and F with errorless learning procedures, the children were evaluated in a natural school setting. The data showed that the two errorless learning procedures promote a faster and homogeneous acquisition of the conditional relations during baseline training. Participants in errorless experimental conditions (B, D, and F) showed a higher percentage of stimulus class formation and a higher behavioral accuracy index. Stimulus class formation ability is correlated with learning of basic reading skills; therefore, the design of instruments and procedures for the evaluation and enhancement of this ability in the behavioral repertoires of children, would allow us to predict the success in learning of basic reading skills.

Under the behavior analysis perspective, the teaching of reading skills may be programmed through matching-to-sample (MTS), a procedure largely employed in stimulus equivalence research. This study is an attempt to investigate which repertoire is necessary so that lay individuals can implement MTS to teach children in applied settings. Three undergraduate students participated. A set of three stimuli was used to teach participants to: (1) program AC (dictated word-printed word) training; (2) implement AC training and (3) analyze data performance. Teaching sessions consisted of instruction and demonstration. Correct responses were followed by verbal praise and incorrect responses by the end of the task and reintroduction of the demonstration. Criterion to finish session was 100% of correct responses. Later, generalization tests were introduced with new sets of stimuli, in which there were no programmed consequences for correct and incorrect responses. All participants met criterion in the three training phases, and showed generalization to new sets of stimuli. The results suggest that the procedure may be efficient to teach teachers to implement MTS procedures and that further relations should be introduced in the training program.

Instruction based on the stimulus equivalence paradigm has been applied to a number of college-level academic topics, such as algebra (Ninness et al., 2006), statistics (Fields et al., 2009; Fienup & Critchfield, 2010, 2011), neuroanatomy (Fienup, Covey, & Critchfield, 2010), and disability categorization (Walker, Rehfeldt, & Ninness, 2011). A recent review noted that there are several technological variations between protocols found in the research literature (Fienup, Hamelin, Reyes-Giordano, & Falcomata, 2011). The current research examined the influence of training protocol on the number of learners who successfully formed equivalence classes as well as the total time to complete a protocol. Neuroanatomy concepts were taught. In one protocol, participants were trained on all relations serially and then tested for equivalence. The second protocol, called simple-to-complex, included symmetry, transitivity, and equivalence probes prior to the test for equivalence. Participants in the serial training completed the protocol, on average, in less time. However, a larger percentage of participants in the simple-to-complex protocol passed the test of equivalence the first time. Implications for a technology of equivalence based instruction are discussed.

Matching-to-sample (MTS) training consists of presenting a stimulus as a sample followed by stimuli called comparisons from which a student makes a choice. This study compared "manual" and "manual-plus-CAPSI" packages for training university students to conduct MTS training to teach reading. Participants were randomly assigned to control or experimental group with 2 participants in each group. During baseline and post-training participants were assessed for accuracy in conducting MTS training. During training the control group studied a manual, and the experimental group studied the manual and wrote online tests via CAPSI. Improvement from baseline to post-training for both groups was statistically significant; however, the difference between post-training performances for the 2 groups was not. Results were discussed in terms of the contents presented in the manual and also in terms of the CAPSI features. A limitation of the study was the small number of participants in each group, which made it difficult to demonstrate clear differences between the packages investigated in this study. Future studies are necessary to test new versions of the manual and the interaction of CAPSI with demonstration videos. Follow-up studies are also necessary using a larger sample size and carrying out a component analysis.

Treatment integrity is defined as a consistent and accurate implementation of a prescribed procedure. The literature has documented both correlational and causal evidence of differential outcomes resulting from varying levels of integrity. Few researchers have examined adherence to protocol within treatments designed to teach academic skills (i.e., instructional fidelity). Also, few have studied whether exposure to imperfect implementation has a longer-term effect that persists even after errors are corrected. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of instructional fidelity on the acquisition of a computerized arbitrary match-to-sample task both in the presence of fidelity errors as well as after errors were removed. Thirty-one undergraduates from a large Midwestern university participated. Within 25 multiple-baseline across participants designs, the effects of 25%, 50%, and 75% fidelity were examined. During the error condition, the program deviated from the prescribed procedure by delivering inaccurate feedback following a proportion of responses. During the perfect fidelity condition, errors were no longer committed. Additionally,6 participants were assigned to a perfect fidelity comparison group. Within-group analyses demonstrated that a carry-over effect was obtained. Between-group analyses demonstrated that the best outcomes were obtained under perfect fidelity while lower levels of fidelity produced progressively lower performances.

Self-editing behavior is a complex response-class not extensively studied in behavior analysis. Self-editing monitors communication with others, ensuring that it is effective. Skinner proposed in Verbal Behavior (1957) that this judgment is based on the audience's reaction, with positive reactions (smiling, nodding) reinforcing verbal behavior and negative reactions (frowning, silence) punishing it. Skinner also argued that self-editing is influenced by the type of audience. This is applicable to writing. This study, in which undergraduates composed2 essays, investigated the effect of a perceived audience (professor, peer, nonspecified reviewer) on self-editing in writing. Additionally, it investigated whether prior feedback (positive vs. negative) influences self-editing of subsequent writing. A keystroke-logging program measured editing, including pauses and edit types. Preliminary results show an interaction effect between audience and feedback on post-response time (elapsed time between the last keystroke and when the essay is submitted). Participants tend to wait longer to submit an essay after receiving negative feedback from a professor; they reduce post-response time after receiving negative feedback from a peer or nonspecified reviewer. This experiment confirms the influence of variables predicted by Skinner in Verbal Behavior, extending understanding of self-editing as a complex response-class in writing.

Since the implementation of the Tower of London Test by Shallice in 1982, numerous variants of the towers physical appearance have been developed. The Tower of London is a task that has proved being successful for the study of problem solving in adult and child populations. The present study shows the comparison of the verbal report post session and the number of movements at solution of three versions of the Tower of London. Participated 46 university students of psychology distributed in the three groups, each group solved to one version of the task. All participants were exposed a four blocks of four trial each one, at the end of the session the participants were interviewed. The results showed significant differences in the quantitative measures between Tower of London Traditional and the modificated versions. The analysis of verbal reports indicated similarities between the groups. p.e. strategies used, planning behavior etc. It requires more systematic research to determine whether TOL is a good strategy for the analysis of human complex behavior within of experimental analysis of behavior.

Kishita & Muto (2011) showed that using multiple exemplar training, the forms of stimuli acquired differential control over the specific discriminative functions obtained via the transformation. The present study extended the result of previous study by establishing three 4-member classes instead of three 3-member classes, to clearly define the control variables required in the process of abstracting the stimulus features that are differentially associated with reinforcement or punishment for behaving in line with the transformation. Three 4-member stimulus equivalence classes, each consisted of four physically distinct visual stimuli were established for 9 undergraduate students using match-to-sample (MTS) task. Following the MTS training and testing, participants were provided with many trials in which behaving in accordance with transformation of function were differentially reinforced or punished depending on the presence of a class of physical features of the stimuli. Finally, new equivalence classes were established and test for generalized contextual control were presented. The result revealed that 7 subjects included in analyses demonstrated contextual control over the derived transformation of stimulus functions, of which 4 showed the generalization of contextual control. Data presented will contribute to empirical verification of how generalized stimulus control over function transformation might arise in natural settings.

Economic games are useful tools for the study of decision making. Specifically, these tools can investigate how participants allocate their resources. In many everyday life situations outcomes are both unknown and uncertain and are affected by contextual variables. A behavioral game-like experimental model was used to investigate these variables. The model employed in this study used multiple trials and a forced choice paradigm between 2 alternatives in which the participant decided between risking or not his/her hypothetical money. An alternative offered the possibility to maintain the amount received, and another provided the opportunity to invest money, opting for a situation in which could have a profit or loss, both allocated at the same time in the same alternative. The questions were presented to 38 adults of both genders in a paper and pencil format, and the experimental setup in a room at the local university. The results revealed 2 profiles of investors. The conservatives invested when the chances of winning are high in relation to losses; and the aggressive ones, who invested even when the chances of winning were equal to losses. Thus, variables such as probability of gain and loss showed to be decisive in the process of selecting participants.

Marginal Propensity to Consume (MCP) is an economic concept that analyzes consumption as a function of income changes: if income increases, consumption increases as well, but in a lower proportion. MCP is empirically verified in human societies, but has not been studied in the animal laboratory, mainly due to difficulties in translating the concept of money. In an attempt to establish a measurement unit functionally similar to money with rats, this study used a panel of 14 small lights. If at least one light on the panel was on during the experimental session, the lever-pressing (LP) response would be reinforced, and for every number of reinforcements delivered, one light would switch off. When all the lights were off, LB would have no consequences. The amount of income available to the rats was the numbers of lights on in the beginning of each session (ex: 9 lights equaling $9). Two reinforcers were used in two separate experimental phases: water (phase 1) and a 10% sucrose solution (phase 2). The independent variable was the number of lights on (income), and three dependent variables were tested as proxies for consumption: rate of responding, delivered volume and number of lights switched off. Results: PMC was observed in terms of volume and number of lights, but not response rate. PMCs controlling variables identified so far are 1) deprivation; 2) number of subjects, and 3) cost of response. Further steps should include tests of whether lights became conditioned stimulus and if they may acquire generalized functions.

The sunk cost effect is roughly defined as the tendency to continue a choice behavior on one alternative where an individual invested in the past, even when there is another better alternative available. Many studies related to this effect focused on the continuation of choice, while few studies operated organisms' behavioral histories. In the first phase, pigeons were exposed to the concurrent small-ratio (FR2) and large-ratio schedules. The value of large-ratio key was determined by the adjusting procedure for each subject, based on the point that pigeons exclusively chose small-ratio key. Then we tested if the pigeons would show preference to the large-ratio key in the concurrent schedule just after a component which color was same as the large-ratio key and that required 20 responses for transition to the concurrent choice. This combined chained schedule was also used as probe trials in the remaining experiment. In the following phases, pigeons were exposed to various conditions, such as extinction in a separate component which color was same as the small-ratio key, or variable reinforcements in a component which color was same as the large-ratio key. We examined whether these histories affected the sunk cost effect or not.

Students who are at risk for reading failure often have deficits in oral language and early literacy skills; however, most empirical research on literacy interventions only addresses reading skills. In addition, many early literacy skills can seem abstract to students who have low receptive and expressive vocabulary. This study used a multiple baseline across participants design to examine the impact of an embedded oral language and phonemic awareness intervention on the literacy and vocabulary skills of kindergarten students who were well below grade level benchmark. During baseline, students received only phonemic awareness instruction using discrete trial training. During intervention, students were first taught to use oral language skills plus picture cues to describe target words using discrete trial training. Then, students were taught the phonemic awareness skills associated with the target words. Instruction in both conditions was provided daily, one-on-one by a general education teacher. Participants were three students with low oral language and literacy skills, including an English Language Learner, a student with a significant language disorder, and a student with a developmental delay. Results demonstrated a functional relationship between embedded oral language and phonemic awareness instruction and improved early literacy and oral language skills as measured by the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), although the change in level and trend was not as pronounced for the student with significant language disorder.

Teacher Child Interaction Training (TCIT) is a school-based universal prevention program in which teachers are taught to use basic principles of applied behavior analysis in the classroom to prevent and reduce problem behaviors in young children. This research was conducted in an elementary school in Virginia. Five female teachers and instructional assistants from two preschool classrooms participated. Each class had 18–20 students, ranging in age from3 to 5 years old. English was the second language for over 90% of the students, with Spanish being the primary language spoken. Two observers in each classroom recorded samples of teacher and child behaviors in 10-second intervals on a randomized schedule, four mornings each week. The intervention was implemented in a multiple baseline across classrooms design. Teachers attended2 3-hour workshops highlighting child-directed interaction (CDI), which included the provision of positive consequences only, and then teacher-directed interaction (TDI) one month later, which included attention to discipline procedures for compliance and listening as well as a brief sit and watch procedure for serious disruptive behavior. Subsequently, each teacher received 20 minutes of individualized coaching one or two mornings a week, using a "bug-in-the-ear" system during regular classroom activities. The multiple baseline design with the sequential introduction of the CDI procedures to the teachers across treatment conditions showed that the frequencies of Labeled Praise, Unlabeled Praise, Behavior Descriptions and Reflections were consistently low during stable baselines. During intervention there was a substantial increase in overall positive behaviors. In addition, Noncompliance to commands and No Answers to questions were variable and high in frequency during baseline. During the intervention, these maladaptive responses to commands and questions decreased in a manner consistent with the multiple baseline design. Child disruptive behaviors of destruction, aggression, and yelling also decreased.

Decoding is a critical skill that precedes acquisition of many other skills and concepts. However, many students with autism experience delays in this skill. Although there are instructional strategies available to teach decoding to individuals who exhibit delays in reading, further research is needed to identify instructional strategies that teach all the necessary skills in a efficient manner so that children with language delays can meet the standards of their same-age peers as quickly as possible (Axe & Sainato, 2010). The current study utilizes a matrix training technique to teach consonants and vowels (e.g., ee, s, l, cl) to 4 elementary students with autism who have limited decoding skills. Using a multi-probe design, we examine if untrained re-combinations of consonant-vowel structure (e.g., feel, sneer, etc.) will emerge without direct teaching. The current study extends existing research by using Headsprout(R) Early Reading Program, a computer-based reading program designed to build early reading skills. Implications for practice and areas for further research will be discussed.

We examined the effects of training two students diagnosed with autism to tutor their peers using the Teacher Performance Rate and Accuracy observation procedure (TPRA) as base of assessment on the acquisition of the observational learning repertoire using a delayed multiple probe across participants design. The dependent variables were the correct responses to observational learning probes in which the target participants observed direct learn units to their peers and then were probed for the correct responses to the indirect learn units. The independent variable was the mastery of tutor training as assessed through the TPRA. Results showed that the numbers of correct responses to indirect learn units increased following tutor training for both students and one student achieved the observational learning repertoire. Additionally the number of echoic responses by the target participants of their peers responses also increased.

We tested the effects of the acquisition of conditioned reinforcement for 2-dimensional print stimuli on learn units to criteria using a delayed multiple probe design. We selected 3 elementary aged males diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder from a self-contained classroom that applies behavioral methods to all instruction. The dependent variable was mean learn units to criteria across programs that require print observation. The independent variable was the acquisition of conditioned reinforcement for 2-dimensional print stimuli through a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure. The results of this study demonstrated a functional relation between the acquisition of conditioned reinforcement for 2-dimensional print stimuli and a decrease in participants' learn units to criteria.

Simultaneous prompting procedure (SPP) has been shown to be efficient and effective when implemented to teach new skills to students with and without disabilities. SPP has produced high rates of acquisition of target information, increased levels of generalization, and extensive periods of maintenance in a variety of settings both within and outside the general education classroom and in various groupings, including one-on-one and small group. SPP has also shown a potential for increasing acquisition of incidental and observational learning. This study applies SPP within an inclusive, general education, high school classroom setting, of students with and without disabilities. This study will employ an alternating treatments design (A-B-C-B-C-B-C). The significance of this research application of this research-evidenced simultaneous prompting procedure is presented, as well as its potential effectiveness when extended to the inclusive, general education, high school setting. Implications on classroom practice and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

High-stakes testing and increased accountability measures have become common components of educational reform that now require the participation of students with disabilities, creating the need for teachers in both regular and special education classrooms to identify and implement evidenced based practices to increase student access to the core curriculum. Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and (Emotional Behavior Disorders) EBD often struggle in the area of written expression, and require special strategies that help them to facilitate and organize thoughts in order to present them in a manner that is coherent and legible. The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of a simultaneous prompting as a strategy to teach the steps needed to complete a paragraph prior to daily writing instruction, as well as to study its effects on the level of academic engagement of 4 students who have been identified with either ADHD or EBD. The authors used a multiple probe design across students to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Results indicate that all 4 of the students acquired, maintained, and generalized the targeted skills presented during training sessions as well as increased levels of academic engagement during writing class.

When students struggle with phonemic approaches to reading, educator may want to attempt to enhance their ability to read commonly used words. We used modified adapted alternating treatments designs were used to evaluate two (1-s and 5-s response intervals) computer-based flashcard sight-word reading interventions in two students with LD and one with ID. Instructional time was held constant (3 min per session) across both the 1-s and 5-s procedures; consequently, students complete six learning trials per word during each 1-s sessions but only two trials per word during each 5-s session. For each student, time series graphs showed similar gains in sight-word mastery rates across both the 1-s and 5-s interventions. Approximately 12 weeks later, maintenance phase data showed that these students maintained 44%-80% of the words, with more 1-s words maintained than 5-s words. However, increases in sight-word reading as the maintenance progressed and during a brief post-maintenance treatment phase (i.e., each word presented one time per session) showed rapid re-learning that caused the discrepancy between the two sets of words read correctly to wane. Discussion focuses on measuring learning rates, learning trial quality, re-learning, and the pitfalls of measuring maintenance in a dichotomous manner.

Prior research supports the use of functional communication training (FCT) and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to reduce problem behavior and increase appropriate communication in young children with disabilities. Despite an increase of empirical support for these interventions, research on these strategies among English language learners (ELL) is significantly lacking within the literature. This study involved3 preschool children with developmental disabilities who were English language learners. Three questions were examined: (a) the effectiveness of FCT, (b) the comparative efficiency of acquiring AAC in English and Spanish, and (c) possible language preferences among preschool-aged ELL students with communication delays. The results indicated that FCT was effective in increasing communication and decreasing problem behavior for all3 participants, with1 participant demonstrating a preference for English,1 demonstrating a preference for Spanish, and the third demonstrating no clear preference. Practical implications are discussed in addition to potential directions for research related to ELL student populations with disabilities.

The Secretariat of Public Education of Mexico (SEP), will implement a program for teaching English in elementary school students, however it is unknown which method would be effective in their learnig. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of SEP English program and Foreing Language in Elementary School (FLES) (Lipton, 1998), on the development of basic concepts of English in children in second grade. All this through a Design with Pre-test and Post-test, with three random groups and Counterbalanced Design with one group with Pre and Post-tests. Participants were 15 children of both sexes, of the second grade of three different elementary schools, which were randomly assigned to two experimental and one control groups. The teaching materials used were: Material Programmed with the program of "Articulate" and not programmed on skills Basic and Course material prepared by teachers of English, Material for "Semaphore of Behavior". The results of the statistical test "C" Dunnett showed that students in the FLES program had a greater percentage of english skills development, than those in the SEP program and those who did not participate in any program.

This classroom intervention was designed to provide added support to a large rural school district's Social Intervention Program (SIP). SIP is a "levels system" whereby students with learning and behavior problems move through a series of remedial stages culminating in their return full-time to the regular education classroom. The added support to SIP centered on a token economy whereby students earned extra points and privileges for a broader range of academic behaviors. The students identified as SIP students, at the secondary level, do not spend the same amount of time the SIP classroom as they do at the elementary level. It became apparent that the schools needed to extend the environment of the SIP classroom into some of the general education classrooms in order to set students up to succeed. In addition to effectively managing and promoting academic achievement in the SIP classroom, the intervention successfully trained SIP teachers and staff how to apply a host of behavior analytic principles and practices in their classrooms and with their students.

In a class or tutorial setting, children's on-task behavior decreases when engaging in a taskthat requires more response effort to complete problems, even if they can perform it accurately (Skinner, 1998). However, our previous study demonstrated that contingent praise counteracts this negative effect of response effort (Nishiyama & Tanaka-Matsumi, 2011). The present study examined whether on-task behavior can be maintained without praise after a sufficient number of intervention trials, using additional reversals from baseline during intervention phase. A 9 year-old boy with difficulty in math participated in the present study. The child engaged in previously determined less-effort and more-effort math computation tasks for1 minute. We defined response effort by the amount of time for solving a single problem. First, during an assessment phase (trials 1–18), we examined the functional relationship between response effort and on-task behavior during engagement in these tasks. Second, using a reversal design (trials 19–72), we examined the effect of contingent praise on on-task behavior during engagement in a more-effort task. Results showed on-task behavior decreased when the child engaged in more-effort task but contingent praise for working on problems improved it. Moreover, after a certain number of intervention trials, on-task behavior could be maintained without praise as the child produced correct responses and the speed of accurate responding increased gradually.

Constructional Student Mentoring (CSM) is a program offered by the Department of Behavior Analysis at the University of North Texas under the direction of Dr. J. Rosales-Ruiz in collaboration with College of Public Affairs and Community Service (PACS) Advising Office. CSM is based on the work of Dr. Israel Goldiamond, Robert Mager and Robert Epsiein. The program is tailored to meet the current needs of students falling short of their academic obligations. CSM is student-centered and designed to aid students in identifying and targeting the areas of their lives that are inhibiting them from meeting their personal and academic goals. In short, this program affords students the opportunity to turn around their academic position, and focus on their individual personal and academic goals while completing their coursework and following graduation. Aggregate data from the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 academic years demonstrates an improved academic performance following exposure to the CSM program. Anecdotally, data collected during individual student meetings seemed to suggest that the repertoire of the entering freshman may not support the demands of higher education (i.e., time management, planning and prioritizing). Through the process of identifying personal goals and systematically working to achieve those goals, the students who participated in CSM were able to refine their ability to identify the contingencies operating on their behavior and begin engineering an environment that allowed them to gain and maintain control over their life, progress and ultimate success.

Previous studies have shown that individuals with autism may depend on rote memorization and recognize words based on shape or pattern rather than using phonological strategies to read words (Frith, 1985). The current study describes the design, implementation, and outcomes of a direct instruction reading program for 3-and 4-year-old children with autism spectrum disorders. The study was conducted with 2 participants with autism and 2 nondisabled participants. The program used for this study is a modification and extension of the DISTAR reading program that emphasizes phonological awareness, whole word recognition, and comprehension (Bruner, 1986). The 2 participants with autism spectrum disorder took longer to complete lessons due to increased need for repetition. However, after the study was completed the final probe demonstrated higher correct responses on reading full sentences than the nondisabled participants. This study demonstrates that a direct instruction reading program is useful for young children on the autism spectrum and their nondisabled peers.

This presentation reports the preliminary analysis of 26 functional assessments and behavior intervention plans developed by school-based teams. Data analyses included the age, grade, and type of disabilities, functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures used, time to complete an FBA, and behavior internvention plan (BIP) recommendations. These cases were also compared to those developed by a university-based team of professionals. Only 26 (45%) of 58 cases were complete (interviewand FBA report). Of those cases: (1) most were elementaryand PreK grade levels, (2) reported 1–5 challenging behaviors (Mean = 3.4) most were externalizing forms of behavior; (3) most reported 1 or more interviewsand 5 to 23 direct ABC observations (Mean = 9.75); (4) few (23%) reported using behavior situation ratings scales or scatterplots (11.5%); and, (5) averaged about 30 days from initial referral tofirst interview (Mean = 32.75 days, range -1 to 126 days) and about 3 ½months (Mean = 116 days, range 23 to 727 days) to complete the FBA. These data are similar to those of the university-based teams except that while the school teams appeared to initiate the FBA process sooner the university-based teams were slightly quicker in completing the FBA. Implications for research and FBA team training were discussed.

In 2004 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was reauthorized and includes6 core concepts; along with this law the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) has 12 special educational ethical principles. Among these principles includes "using evidence, instructional data, research and professional knowledge to inform practice" (CEC, 2010). While there are numerous books and articles citing the need for data collection and analysis within the classroom (Hess, 2009; Johnson, 2002; Matthews, Trimble,& Gay, 2008; Morrison, 2008; What Works Clearing House, 2009) there are no step-by-step instructions to teach these skills to the educators in the classroom. The purpose of this study is to develop an instructional method to teach educators how to organize, display, and interpret student data within their classrooms.

Analogies play significant roles in communication as well as in problem solving and model building in science domains. Analogies have also been incorporated into several different instructional strategies most notably in science domains where the concepts and principles to be learned are abstract or complex. Although several instructional models for teaching with analogies have been developed, the role of non-examples or contrasting analogies has not been incorporated into instructional models. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of contrasting analogies on learning and conceptual change. Specifically, this study investigated the effect of instruction including refutational contrasting analogies (situations which are analogous to common misconceptions) on understanding of and reasoning about natural selection. Instruction including refutational contrasting analogies was compared to instruction incorporating non-refutational contrasting analogies (analogies which are neither analogous to natural selection or a common misconception of natural selection) and no contrasting analogies. Although there were no differences between groups on either understanding of or reasoning about natural selection as measured by the posttests, there were significant differences between groups on the analogy portion of the instructional materials, with the refutational contrasting analogies group answering fewer questions correctly than the non-refutational contrasting analogies group.

This poster describes a comparison of two teaching procedures: single target presentation and progressive target presentation in an adolescent with autism spectrum disorder. In single target presentation, a single target was presented for 10 trials per day until mastery was achieved at 80% for three consecutive days. In progressive target presentation successive targets were presented following the first independent response. A target was considered mastered when performed independently three different days. Initial results indicate that targets taught using progressive target presentation were mastered in fewer days than targets taught using single target presentation. In addition, targets taught using progressive target presentation maintained for a greater length of time without daily probes than targets taught using single target presentation. Only targets that has prerequisite skills as previous targets were used in this phase of the study. Phase two includes an examination of whether this teaching procedure is effective when teaching nonsuccessive targets as well as the effects on generalization when teaching using the two procedures.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-management on two eco-driving behaviors: reducing speed and shifting to neutral. Self-management consisted of three intervention components: goal setting, self-monitoring, and reward. Three office workers who drive regularly participated in this study. We adopted an ABCD multiple baseline design. After the baseline (A), participants set their own goals on driving behaviors (B). In the next phase (C), self-monitoring was added. At the final phase (D), participants were provided with rewards when the individual goal was met. Results showed that goal setting decreased speeding. Moreover, adding self-monitoring and reward further decreased speeding. Similarly, goal setting substantially improved the gear shifting behavior. Specifically, the gear shifting behavior of two participants reached to 100% when goal setting was introduced so that the effects of self-monitoring and reward could not be examined. The gear shifting behavior of the remaining one participant also substantially improved when goal setting was introduced and further increased when self-monitoring and reward were added.

The present study examined the effectiveness of a behavioral-based safety (BBS) program in improving safety performance and safety climate. The BBS program was applied to a steel manufacturing company and a construction site. The BBS program consisted of goal-setting, feedback, and low cost reward. Feedback was delivered biweekly to the workers. A monthly goal was set and adjusted based on the safety performance in the previous month. Also, rewards were provided if the monthly goal was met. The effects of the program on safety performance were evaluated using an AB design. Safety climate were measured using a questionnaire (Neal, Griffin, & Hart, 2000), adopting one group pretest-posttest design. The results indicated that the mean percentage of observed safety behaviors increased after introducing BBS program. Also, the mean scores of safety climate significantly increased.

This study compared the effects of specific and global of feedback on safety performance. Participants were 20 undergraduate students. They were asked to work on a computer-simulated work task and engage in seven target behaviors. Ten participants (skilled group) had a previous experience in working on the task and the other 10 participants (unskilled group) did not. Participants in each group were randomly assigned to one of two feedback conditions: global and specific feedback. In the specific feedback condition, participants were provided with information on safety performance of each target behavior. In the global feedback condition, participants were provided with information on overall safety performance across all seven target behaviors. Results showed that the specific feedback produced higher level of safety performance than the global feedback for both skilled and unskilled group.

This study examined whether positive and negative reinforcement has differential impacts on safety rule following behavior under two different schedules of reinforcement (FR1 and VR5). Participants were asked to work on a computerized task and follow safety rules. A 2 x 2 factorial design was adopted and 80 participants were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental groups: FR1 positive, VR5 positive, FR1 negative, and VR5 negative reinforcement groups. The participants in the FR1 and VR5 positive reinforcement groups earned a base pay of 5,000 won at the beginning of the experiment, and could earn additional 50 and 250 won, respectively, if they followed all safety rules. The participants in the FR1 and VR5 negative reinforcement groups earned 10,000 won at the beginning, but they could lose 50 and 250 won, respectively, if they did not follow any of the safety rules. The results showed that there were no differential impacts on rule following behavior under the FR1 condition. However, under the VR5 condition, the negative reinforcement condition produced a significantly lower level of rule following behavior. This result suggests that effects of positive and negative reinforcement may differ depending on the type of reinforcement schedule.

In todays competitive business environment, petrochemical refineries, oil platforms and manufacturing plants are expected to run at or close to nameplate capacity. Unplanned shutdowns result in lost production and profitability as well as increased maintenance costs. Furthermore, personnel and process safety risk exposures are higher during plant shutdowns and restarts than in running plant environments. Reliability Inspectors determine the probability and capacity of plant components to perform required functions for specific periods of time under certain conditions and they conduct inspections to ensure component integrity. Traditionally, inspections for critical equipment are specified on a time-based schedule. Reliability Inspectors employing risk-based inspections (RBI) consider multiple process variables, component materials, and other factors to identify probability and consequences of failure and adjust the frequency of inspection accordingly. Using RBI results in better reliability and lower cost but requires more complex behaviours from inspectors and a higher level of decision making and advanced stakeholder management. Results of a behaviour-based coaching programme show that as front-line supervisors engage in more effective field leadership, such as taking ownership of the findings instead of just sending a report, new inspector behaviours are shaped and new results delivered. This change has effectively avoided costs in excess of $100M which motivates ongoing analysis of which behaviours have the greatest impact.

Over the years organizational behavior management has proven to be an effective tool to help improve target behaviors in organizations. Oftentimes OBM interventions focus on high frequency behaviors and frequently recurring behaviors. Occasionally key behaviors are needed for discrete periods and also with a time lapse between those discrete periods. This poster describes one approach to help an organization address episodic behavior.

The main objective of the investigation was to design and apply a modification behavioral program in order to help the employees of an organization cope with extraorganizational stressors. The main problem was the direct influence that extraorganizational stressors have on some employees performance, feelings, thoughts and health. There were three hypothesis: the treatment program will produce a significant variation in the subjects stress levels, the treatment will not produce a significant variation in the subjects stress levels; there will be a significant variation in the subjects stress levels but will not be caused by the program but by extraorganizational stressors. The treatment consisted in the administration of five main programs: first, the subject learning to relax efficiently by using deep muscle relaxation and diaphragmatic breathing; the second one consisted in listing and ranking stressful events by hierarchy and based on the hierarchy apply relaxation techniques; the fourth and fifth consisted in stress coping thoughts and applying coping skills into real situations. The sample consisted of two male subjects, with 23 and 25 years old, performing administrative roles, both of them suffering from acute stress disorder by the manifestation of disturbing thoughts and physical symptoms. Despite the fact that the disturbances were reduced after the treatment, there were some extra organizational stressors that interfered with our results, which lead us to accept the fact that there were significant variations in the subject stress levels that were not produced by the treatment program.

The use of video modeling has demonstrated great success when used to increase the skills of atypically developing children, but little research has been done on applying video modeling to the mainstream population. Varying video models were incorporated within five individualized training programs in efforts to optimize golf performance on the driving range and during rounds of golf, or actual game play of five participants. All participants only had previous amateur golf experience, and all had trouble with the mechanics of one or more aspects of their golf game, specifically related to procedures. As golf is a sport which essentially replicates similar behaviors over and over again, this seemed liked a perfect place to use some tools of behavior analysis to help address their problems. Baseline data was collected for each participant and after a few short sessions, data was collected again for comparison. Initial data for one participant demonstrated dramatic results, and it is postulated that comparable results will be obtained from the others. This presentation examines the efficacy and application of video modeling to the general population in effort to bring applied behavior analysis to mainstream sports.

Training caregivers to implement behavioral protocols is an important part of treatment generalization. This process can be complicated when working with caregivers who are hearing impaired, particularly when their child is hearing. In the current study, the use of an electronic text-to-voice communication program with hearing impaired parents and their hearing child with autism was evaluated. Data were collected on accuracy of parent implementation of a least-to-most prompting procedure. Training consisted of both role-play and in-vivo training sessions. Following the delivery of an academic demand in American Sign Language (ASL) during initial training, the child would imitate the sign but would not comply with the prompt. Further, caregivers would repeatedly prompt using ASL. Next, an electronic-text-to voice program was introduced, which the parents used to type in the demand. Results suggested that when the electronic device was used, the accuracy of treatment implementation increased.

We will survey post-treatment outcomes of former students of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center (JRC), a residential care facility that employs a highly consistent application of behavioral treatment and educational programming. All former JRC students who are reachable and willing to participate will be surveyed. We will use both a subjective General Life Adjustment rating scale (performed by guardians and/or the former students themselves) and objective counts of certain Quality of Life (QOL) Indicators. QOL/current status indicators will include need for ongoing treatment services, family/relationship status, place of residence status, educational status, employment status, and leisure pursuit information. Data will be reported in terms of descriptive statistics.

Several researchers have used stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) to increase the frequency of specific vocalizations in children with disabilities. However, only a few addressed the utility of SSP to increase functional language (e.g., mands and tacts), and none combined SSP and direct reinforcement (DR). The present study combined SSP and DR to successfully teach2 to10 functional mands in 49 7-minute sessions or less with 4 children with developmental disabilities (two diagnosed with autism, one with a developmental delay, and one with Down syndrome). Initially, none of the4 children emitted mands or tacts. The children also demonstrated little to no vocal imitation and spontaneously vocalized only 1 to 14 phonemes. Following mand training,2 children continued into Study II and were successfully taught 10 tacts for pictures in a maximum of 38, 10-trial sessions.

Developing strategies that lead to more effective language teaching programs is of key importance for teachers of children with autism. Skinners theory of verbal behaviour has allowed for the investigation of functions of verbal responses. Research by Lerman, Parten, Addison, Vorndran, Volkert and Kodak (2005) used functional analysis to assess the elementary functions of emerging language in children with developmental disabilities. The current study applied a brief functional analysis methodology to the assessment of emerging language in children with autism. The aims were to investigate if a shortened language assessment could identify functions of verbal behaviour and if results could be used to develop a language teaching program. Participants were five children, between the ages of five and ten, who had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Participants had limited verbal language, but could emit at least one vocal response. Results show that brief functional analyses were able to identify at least one function of target verbal responses for each participant. Teaching data suggest that a brief functional analysis of language provides sufficient information from which to develop an individualised language teaching strategy. Furthermore, this brief assessment could be easily taught to staff, maximising their ability to individualise programming.

Research investigating how best to support the development of functional language is of significance to populations that historically present with language delays. Kodak and Clements (2009) found that when single procedures failed to succeed, the combination of echoic training with mand or tact training was successful in facilitating the acquisition of mands and tacts. Two boys and one girl with autism received mand and tact training for three verbal operants (mands and tacts) each. The boys acquired all operants without requiring echoic training. The girl participant required echoic training on one mand only. Data showed echoic training as having some effect, but when the percentage of unprompted responses indicated a declining trend, it was hypothesised that the mand was losing its value as a reinforcer. Findings indicate that mand-only and tact-only training can be effective in helping children acquire spoken language. When this is not effective the introduction of echoic training can be beneficial.

High probability (high-p) request sequences have been used to teach many important behaviors when noncompliance is a major factor. Much research has been done using high-p sequences with severe behavior problems in children with developmental delays, including children with ASD. In all existing studies of children diagnosed with ASD, high-p request sequences have proven effective in teaching compliance with requests (Banda et.al, 2003). In this study, this method was used with preschool children diagnosed with ASD who had a repertoire of several easy-to-follow requests (tacts) in combination with an adult maintaining close proximity to the child. This has proven to keep the child's attention, convey a rapid conveyance of the sequence and been successful in adding and learning a new tact (low-p) following the high-p sequence. Data was collected using a single subject reversal design with baseline data consisting of the introduction of the dependant variable (new tact) under the typical means of what is this? The independent variable (high-p) sequence request was then introduced in a 12 second rapid burst of 4 tacts that were in the childs repertoire followed by a low-p request, repeated as many times as the child would respond in a 3 minute time allotment.

A single-case, parallel treatment design was used to systematically compare the effectiveness and efficiency of two prompt fading procedures in teaching two participants to label pictures using two component signs. In the most to least prompting (MTL) condition, a predetermined prompt hierarchy composed mostly of physical prompts was used to fade assistance across trials. In the graduated guidance (GG) condition, prompts were faded within trials at the trainers discretion. Both prompting procedures resulted in the increased performance of target signs; participant 1 achieved mastery of two out of three signs when taught using graduated guidance. Participant 2 acquired the same target signs under the most to least condition. The results also indicate that MTL resulted in more errors per session than GG. While the number of teaching sessions remained fairly consistent with Participant 1, the rate of acquisition increased dramatically with Participant 2 when the number of teaching sessions per day was increased. This study extends literature on prompt fading procedures and may provide support for prompt fading procedures that combine aspects of both MTL and GG.

Few studies have evaluated the importance of various factors, such as the effect of treatment intensity on treatment outcomes. The objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship of treatment hours and the number of months in treatment with the rate of skill acquisition. The study will evaluate treatment progress for 55 children receiving Applied Behavior Analysis techniques of Verbal Behavior Therapy. The data, which will be used in this study, are archival and obtained from the clinical records of patients referred to an ABA based language and learning clinic day treatment program. We hypothesize that children who have received verbal behavior therapy in a learning language clinic will acquire language skills at a faster rate the more months (duration) they are in treatment. Also, children who have received verbal behavior therapy in a learning language clinic will acquire language skills at a faster rate the more hours (intensity) they are in treatment per month. This research is important to gain a better understanding of the most effective treatment methods for language delays. There are few studies with an adequate sample size to make evidence based decisions related to language delay treatments.

We examined the effects of using different types of stimuli during Naming probe sessions on the levels of correct responding following multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) to induce the Naming capability. The dependent variables were the correct responses to the Naming probes for two types of stimuli prior to and following the completion of MEI. The independent variable was the mastery of MEI. Results show that for both students the Naming capability was shown to be present when complex stimuli were used, and required additional instruction for the Naming capability to be shown with simple stimuli. This study will discuss possible reasons for these findings as well as possible procedural changes to strengthen the findings.

Many studies have shown that the speaker performance on naming tests of equivalent stimuli is more accurate when a topographically identical response is emitted in the presence of a picture compared to when it is emitted in the presence of a printed word. Although individuals may pass tests of symmetry and transitivity, the stimuli involved in the equivalence classes do not seem to be truly equivalent. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the reinforcing value of verbal relations involving picture and printed word equivalent stimuli, and which of these two verbal relations are preferred by participants. Six university students and eight typically developing children without reading repertoire participated in experiment. The general procedure consisted of two phases; the first one was a matching -to-sample teaching procedure (MTS) to establish equivalence relations and the second was a concurrent chains choice procedure used to evaluate preference for tasks. The results indicated indifference between verbal relations controlled by picture and printed word tasks, which is consistent with the establishment of equivalence relations and the fact that participants showed similar performance in naming pictures and printed words.

This study was designed to observe conditional discrimination performance in an automated matching-to-sample procedure when comparison stimuli were digital videos presented simultaneously. Participants were four normally developing five-year-old children with no formal manual signing. The experimental stimuli consisted of nine manual signs and the corresponding actions all presented as digital videos. Teaching was introduced first and consisted of imitating signs (mimetic) and choosing one among three action videos (i. e., jumping, sitting, kicking) presented simultaneously in the presence of the sign in a matching-to-sample context. After criterion was met on all teaching relations, testing was introduced and consisted of (1) choosing one among three videos of signs presented simultaneously in the presence of the action video (symmetry), and (2) presenting an action video and the instruction for the child to sign (tact) for the corresponding action. Results indicated the emergence of symmetric relations and emergence and maintenance of tact responses. Establishing conditional discrimination with videos as samples and comparisons may represent an important feature to teach autoclitic repertoire, such as grammar and word sequence.

A variety of training procedures have been demonstrated to produce emergent relations in typically developing children, and children with developmental disabilities. For example, simple and complex conditional discrimination training have both received empirical support in basic and applied research (e.g., Maguire et al., 1994; Groskreutz et al., 2010, Lane & Critchfield, 1998). However, the effectiveness of the two procedures has not been directly compared. Therefore, in the present study, an alternating treatments design was employed to teach sight word reading and reading comprehension to participants with and without developmental disabilities. Stimulus sets were assigned to either a simple- or complex-sample training condition. During the simple-sample condition, participants were first taught to conditionally relate dictated names to their corresponding pictures (A-B), and then taught to relate dictated names to their corresponding printed words (A-C). During the complex-sample condition, participants were presented with a dictated name and picture, and taught to conditionally relate this complex sample to its corresponding printed word (AB-C). Investigating procedures that establish emergent relations in the most efficient manner is important to increase the efficiency of academic instruction. Results will be discussed with respect to the training time required for each condition and areas for future research.

The selection of an approach to help children with autism acquire communication is remarkably challenging. This talk will review many of the issues that relate to evidence-based practices which aim to improve broad language skills, including the acquisition of an array of verbal operants as well as skills associated with the listener (traditionally viewed as receptive skills). While the hallmark of applied behavior analysis involve many hundreds of single-subject designs looking at particular skills, many practitioners attempt to use packages- that is, an organization of target skills and teaching strategies, including those involving generalization. What is the evidence that particular packages work- either in terms of outcome measures or in comparison to other packages? Many other questions arise, including: Which skills should be targeted first? Is modality a critical issue? Is there evidence of successful transitioning from one modality to another and what guidelines should be used? Are there any non-behaviorally based strategies that are evidence-based? Rather than trying to provide a definitive answer to the Which strategy is universally the best? guidelines for the most appropriate questions to ask will be offered.

Professor Erica Chenoweth discusses her book with Maria Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. In this groundbreaking book, the authors find that between 1900 and 2006, campaigns of nonviolent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts. Attracting impressive support from citizens that helps separate regimes from their main sources of power, these campaigns have produced remarkable results. In this talk, Chenoweth details the factors enabling such campaigns to succeed; and, at times, causing them to fail. She discusses how higher levels of participation contribute to enhanced resilience, a greater probability of tactical innovation, increased opportunity for civic disruption (and therefore less incentive for the regime to maintain the status quo), and shifts in loyalty among opponents' erstwhile supporters, including members of the military establishment. Successful nonviolent resistance movements tend to usher in more durable and internally peaceful democracies, which are less likely to regress into civil war. Chenoweth originally and systematically compares violent and nonviolent outcomes in different historical periods and geographical contexts, debunking the myth that violence occurs because of structural and environmental factors and is necessary to achieve certain political goals. Instead, she argues that violent insurgency is rarely justifiable on strategic grounds. Chenoweth will conclude her presentation by discussing the implications of this research for ongoing conflicts around the world.

Panelists will be recently hired professionals in the field of behavior analysis. They will discuss their personal accounts of researching and applying for different positions in the field, both in academia and clinical posts, as well as the transition from graduate school into the professional community. They will give recommendations and advice to those preparing to apply for a job in behavior analysis. Following their accounts and discussion there will be a question and answer period at which time more specific questions may be asked by audience members.

Now almost three years in the making, the Behavioral Enrichment Animal Research (BEAR) Group has focused on examining the behavioral welfare of captive exotic animals, primarily located at Woodland Park Zoo. Since that time, our group has worked on thirteen different projects working with animals including elephants, hippos, Humboldt penguins, grizzly bears, sun bears, sloth bears, Sumatran tigers, jaguars, African wild dogs, golden lion tamarins, ostriches, tree kangaroos. All of these projects have attempted to assess some aspect of animal welfare, and then looked for ways to enhance/enrich the animals studied. In the following symposium, we will discuss three separate projects: (1) the effects of jaguar activity on the behaviors and verbal responses of visitors, (2) the seasonal and daily activity of captive grizzly bears, and (3) the effects of animal visibility and activity on visitor crowd size. For all three projects, we will discuss the ramifications of the presented results, as well as the future directions for the projects. Particular emphasis will be placed on how our BEAR Group, via working with Woodland Park Zoo, can continue to both assess and enhance the animals involved in the various projects we are working with.

Zoo animals serve an important function in helping educate the public about their conservation needs. Despite this important function, little is understood about how visitors respond to different zoo exhibits and the animals that reside within them. We examined how different behaviors displayed by two jaguars located at the Woodland Park Zoo were correlated with visitor behaviors and their responses about the exhibit. Jaguar behaviors were categorized as five possible classes of behavior (Active, Inactive, Grooming, Repetitive, and Other), visitor behaviors were measured in terms of crowd size and individual time spent in front of an exhibit, and visitor responses were measured using a brief survey. Overall, visitors spent significantly less time and formed smaller groups when a jaguar was out of sight (i.e., Other). Visitors showed some lowered responses in their verbal responses. However, these did not correlate with what they did. By understanding how visitors respond to exhibited animals, zoos and other captive institutions can address these behaviors and perceptions in order to create more positive experiences for their visitors.

Captive grizzly bears, similar to their wild counterparts, spend a considerable amount of their time inactive seasonally. We documented the year-long activity of two grizzly bears located at the Woodland Park Zoo. Of particular interest is when activity begins to emerge in relation to when and how the grizzly bears are fed on exhibit. Both seasonal and daily activity was examined with respect to (a) seasonal changes, and (b) several times a day feeding schedules. Of particular interested was how much the events within their daily routine (i.e. when theyre fed) affected these overall behaviors both daily and seasonally. Results will be discussed with respect to how we can modify their feeding schedules and the like to change their overall activity levels, as well as how we can use future feeding schedules to optimize overall grizzly bear activity.

Zoos have multiple functions, one of which is educating/entertaining visitors that come to the zoo. This plays an important role for other zoo functions; by educating and entertaining zoo visitors, they are more likely to gain support for their conservation efforts. In addition, visitors contribute money directly to the zoo, which helps the zoo care for their animals, as well as paying for the various conservation efforts they are involved with around the world. One particular concern is both how visible and active the animals at a zoo are. When animals are less active, and possibly more importantly, less visible, this can change what the visitors themselves do at the zoo. The following study attempted to quantify this by examining how visible/active the animals were at the Woodland Park Zoo. 64 different points/exhibits at the zoo were examined, and one simple measure of visitor behavior, crowd size, was used. We then examined for both specific exhibits and the zoo as a whole how crowd sized changed as a result of (a) how active certain animals/exhibits were, and (b) how visible they were. The results will be discussed in terms of how we can use such results to better exhibit animals, and thus improve the visitor zoo experience as a whole.

A primary goal when working with children on the autism spectrum is that they achieve independent functional skills. Therefore, it is crucial that time spent teaching new skills is used effectively and efficiently. This symposium will share research on the use of transfer-of-stimulus control procedures. Specifically, the first paper will report data on a comparison between the quick transfer of stimulus control procedure and a more common prompt fading method. The second paper will address the quick transfer procedure as an error-correction procedure. The third paper will compare tact- and echoic-to-intraverbal transfer of stimulus control procedures as well as evaluate assessment procedures that might be used to predict efficient prompting strategies. Areas for future research also will be discussed.